THE STORY OF A NERD AND A JERK
by superjunior1991
Summary: Sakura Kinomoto is your every day high school student. Ambitious, diligent and obedient! But what happens when the school's heartthrob and player Syaoran Li who annoys her to the ends of the world manages to tug at her heartstrings with his antics? She doesn't like him one bit but fate may have something else in store for her. If you are curious to find out, read and review!
1. I hate him!

This is the story of a studious final year high school student Sakura Kinomoto to whom nothing matters more than getting an admission to the country's most prestigious university. As her father is an archaeology professor in Tokyo university, he travels from Tomoeda to Tokyo everyday taking the suburban trains. It usually takes about one and a half hours to get to Tokyo but because of the journey he feels tired at the end of the day ultimately not having any atom of strength left in his body to spend time with his family. Thus it came out one day as a suggestion from his part that it would be better if they moved to Tokyo to make things easy for both his profession and his children's higher education to which both Sakura and Touya obliged without any hesitation. Touya was already a university student studying Aviation in Tokyo university who visits his family once in a month.

Sakura's P.O.V

At 5 in the morning….

My alarm clock made a deafening shriek that resonated throughout my room and I had no choice but to get up. With much hatred I pried my eyes open and stared at the ceiling for a full 5 minutes. The room was dark which meant that the sun hadn't risen yet. I scurried out of the comforts of my bed and turned on the lights of my room. It was a good thing I had a room of my own. I could sleep and get up at whatever time it pleases me. I lazily scratched the back of my head and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and perk my spirits up for a 2 hr long study session.

To much dismay it was the day I had to go through Math according to the time table I had put up for myself. It was the only subject that gave me the creeps. I was not good at Math which was why I had to pay attention to it particularly for three days a week. Although I was getting good at it at a slow pace, things really didn't go well between me and the horrid subject. Its almost like I am trying to win it over by going on dates with it for three days a week and all it gives me is a whole load of crap. Seriously I wouldn't be surprised if I went on a mental breakdown trying to woo this stubborn subject.

Anyways, stubborn or not I will have to master it otherwise I can kiss my admission to Tokyo university good bye. I cannot let that happen as I am equally stubborn and headstrong about my goals. I was diligently working out some of the problems of Calculus when I heard a click on my door. I turned around and saw that my dad was already up and was holding a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Oh I see my angel is already awake!", Dad said.

"Good morning dad!", I greeted. "Good morning to you too sweet heart", Dad greeted me back with a hug. He gave me the cup of coffee and told me to get ready to school as it was already 6:30 a.m. He also told me that Touya had come back home for the weekend.

"Ok dad. I will just have a quick shower. Meet you downstairs!", I said cheerfully and went into the bathroom to take bath. I quickly put on my uniform and hurried downstairs where I was greeted by Touya in quite a teasing way. I heard the vein in my head pop. Not minding him I went on ahead and stared at my mom's picture and greeted her a good morning too.

"Oh good morning Kaiju! It was you running down the stairs , wasn't it? I am sorry, my bad! I thought it was an earthquake!", Touya teased me.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME KAIJU!", I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Touya please don't irritate her alright. She is working very hard on her preparations for the university entrance exams you know!", Dad immediately became defensive of me. "Ya , ya whatever!", Touya exclaimed. I stuck my tongue out to him in response to which he snorted out of annoyance. Dad had prepared a perfect English breakfast for us consisting of eggs, bacon, toast and butter with a tall glass of orange juice. Mmm! Just the way I like it!

Feeling really hungry I started gobbling everything down from my plate in a hurry and I choked. Damn! "Take it easy will ya', the food's not gonna run away Kaiju!", Touya said. Again with the Kaiju thing!

"You know what I am already late and I don't wanna waste my time with useless bickering first thing in the morning", I said to him with a mature tone. Fortunately Touya didn't say anything after that. My guess is that he would have anticipated my retaliation for the comment he made but I showed him. Boo ya! In your face Touya. What I wouldn't give to behold this expression on his face every day!

It was 8 in the morning and there was only half an hour left for school to start. Realising that I managed to finish my breakfast and put on my roller blades and headed towards school.

"Oh dear! I am not gonna make it! It was all Touya's fault for getting me riled up!", I complain all to myself on the way. Within a few minutes I happened to see the school gates. It was 8:20a.m. That means only ten minutes left for the first lecture to start. When I made a sharp turn around to enter the compound my rollerblades made a loud screech and made me skid on the concrete floor. As I closed my eyes for the inevitable contact with the cold ground I found myself being supported by a pair of strong arms. When my eyes shot open to take notice of the person who had stopped my fall I immediately had a gut feeling that maybe I got off at the wrong side of the bed this morning. It was none other than the greatest narcissist and our school's very own egomaniac, Syaoran Li.

"Looks like its your lucky day princess. Any girl would just die to be in your place right now", he said with an overconfident smirk playing about his lips. His face was dangerously close to mine and I can almost feel his warm breath fanning my cheeks as he held me from falling. I jerked away from his grasp, straightened myself out and shot him a death glare. Noticing this he said", Huh! This is what I get for saving your sorry butt. Not too polite enough to say a thank you are we?" "You know what Li I don't have the time right now to deal with you", I retorted and made my way to class. As I was heading upstairs I noticed some of Li's fangirls shooting daggers at me. "Oh for the love of God! These lunatics would have seen my head on collision with that self-absorbed freak! What did I do to deserve this?" There was only 5 minutes left for the bell to ring and the classes to commence and I made just in time.

Feeling relieved I made my way to my desk and sat down contentedly finally catching my breath. I turned to my right and found that Tomoyo had already occupied her desk. Oh right I was the fool who is late today! Silly me!

"Ohayo Tomoyo-chan!", I greeted her cheerfully. "Ohayo Sakura-chan!", Tomoyo greeted me back. And I told her the whole story of my misfortune this morning in a nutshell.

"Oh my! Looks like today is gonna be quite an exciting day for you Sakura!", Tomoyo beamed at me. I just sweat dropped on seeing how my best friend always manages to see the flip side of things and every time she does that she fascinates me more. Suddenly I caught someone entering the classroom and taking a seat behind me at the corner of my eye. It was that annoying brat again. It was my misfortune that he just had to be seated behind me by Terada sensei. The memory of that fateful day is still freshly etched in my mind.

…FLASHBACK….

_It was already the second year of high school._

_Terada sensei came into the classroom and we all greeted him a good morning._

"_Good morning class! Today we are having a foreign exchange student transferring over to our class from Hong Kong. Lets welcome him shall we?", Terada sensei informed us and ushered him in._

_He had luxuriant messy chestnut brown hair and pale skin. And the moment the girls laid their eyes on him all of them started drooling over him. He started introducing himself right away. "Good morning to you! I am Syaoran Li and I am from Hong Kong. I was the captain for my soccer team back in Hong Kong and I am not too shabby in academics too. I hope we can become friends. Please take good care of me"._

_With that lenghthy piece of introduction done for, Terada sensei proceeded for finding him a seat. Meanwhile I happened to hear a range of comments the girls started making under their breaths. The comments ranged from "Oo la la…those messy chestnut bangs are a total turn on" to "does he have a girl friend?" to "For someone so hot I bet he has one" to "Wow…look at those liquid amber eyes. I am going weak in the knees". One of the girls even fainted when he shot her a wink. Man ! that was so ewww! Something is totally wrong with that guy! Finally Terada sensei found a seat empty behind mine and instructed me to raise my hand so that he can locate it. I obliged and raised my hand without looking at his approaching face. He made a sudden stop beside me and stared down at me for a few seconds and took his seat behind me. That earned me quite a handful of hateful stares from some of the girls of my class. I was like "Whats wrong with them?"_

_I could feel his stare all day long boring holes at the back of my head while the classes proceeded smoothly. It was almost the end of the day when he came forward and spoke to me when I was getting ready to go home. "You 're the only girl in this entire class who hasn't acknowledged my presence so far. Can I ask you why?", he asked me with a smirk._

_Ugh! Not one day has gone by since he came and he already acts as if he is this school's heartthrob or something. That really pissed me off. I retorted and said" Why? Does it bother you that I haven't noticed you? I hardly know you and besides you are gonna have your hands full with tons of girls like them everyday", I said and pointed to the brainless idiots that call themselves fangirls who mindlessly drool over anything that he does. "Whether I acknowledge you or not , it doesn't make any difference. So take a hike will ya'?" I said and I noticed that it clearly knocked the wind out of him. He couldn't find any words to make a comeback. Just when I was about to make my exit with Tomoyo he came walking beside me and whispered "You're something! And I like feisty girls who play hard to get." Surprised , I turned around and flinched at the sudden closeness to him. He proceeded" It kinda turns me on!". It was a mere whisper but it was enough to make all the hair on my neck to stand on their ends. _

"_Just leave me alone, Guys like you disgust me!", I retaliated and dashed out of the classroom pulling Tomoyo along with me._

_From that fateful encounter not one day has passed by without being teased, taunted and tortured to bits by the almighty Syaoran Li._

…FLASHBACK END…

Another bell rung indicating that the classes were about to start and I was shaken out of my reverie. Terada sensei, our homeroom teacher came inside and proceeded with the lessons for the day. I just hope that I don't run into any more trouble today. Most importantly a certain freak show who calls himself the heartthrob of Tomoeda high.


	2. I really hate him!

It was already time for lunch and the whole class dispersed into groups. Sakura, Tomoyo, Rika, Naoko and Chiharu brought their lunches along and exited the class while Syaoran was practically pulled away by Eriol and Yamazaki from a dozen fan girls who were swarming around him inviting him over to have lunch with them. "Man! Remind me to never ever do that again. I felt as though I would suffocate to death!", Yamazaki heaved a sigh of relief after nearly getting killed. "Syaoran and his popularity!", snorted Eriol. And they were out of the classrooms and headed for the cafeteria.

Syaoran's P.O.V

I thought chicks totally dig guys like me but I guess I was wrong. Of course I still am the hottest guy on campus but no matter what I do or say my hotness turns lukewarm in front of the one and only nerd, Sakura Kinomoto. Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with that nerdy brain of hers. That must be it!

While all girls pay attention to me during class , she pays attention to the lecture and takes notes down furiously. I have never met a girl like her before who has enough stubbornness and nerve to deflate my enormous ego. That makes her all the more special and unique. I cant tell you the limits to which this girl intrigues me so much. Forget the friendly talk, this girl doesn't even notice me during class, like I am totally invisible or something. This reminded me of our first encounter. I can never forget what she said to me that day!

"_Guys like you disgust me!"_

That was what she had said to me. I was totally shell shocked with that kind of response from her. I thought all girls were alike, acting all flirty in front of guys but she proved me wrong. From that day onwards there wasn't an end to the things I did to gain her attention. I didn't know what was happening to me. I am the Syaoran Li after all and girls swarm around me for attention not the other way around! And here I am acting totally out of my way for the only girl who never acknowledges me. Why? Why does it matter so much to me? Am I that narcissistic like she said before? I guess its just plain pleasure that I derive from teasing her and the look on her face amuses me a lot.

The way her arched eyebrows knit together the moment she lays those wonderful emerald eyes on me and the way her lips pull into a frown when I taunt her the moment she enters the classroom, everything about her amuses to me to bits. You can call it whatever you like. Sadism , dictatorship or whatever, but I like being called a jerk by her because I didn't mind being one…for her! But the guys think otherwise. Me and some of my buddies from class were having lunch at the cafeteria when the topic suddenly took a diversion to girls.

Yamazaki said ,"These girls will always remain a puzzle to us". To which Eriol asked ,"Now don't tell me Chiharu tried to strangle you to death again!". He replied ,"I would have been a lot happier if she did that". I got puzzled and asked him ,"Are you guys breaking up or something?" Yamazaki said ,"No! I can never let that happen. I love her man!" Eriol said ,"Dude seriously if you don't cough it up I am gonna strangle you to death right here and now!" Yamazaki immediately replied ,"Alright alright! No need to get so impatient. Yeesh! The thing is since it was a weekend I thought I would take her out on a date to which she gladly obliged. I said it would be better if we watched a romantic movie since girls always liked mushy stuff or so I thought. I was totally stumped with her response. She yelled at me that I had suggested her a romantic movie and that I didn't know about her likes and dislikes. She said she wanted to watch Avengers which, some of you might know, is an action movie." And then he paused for some air. I intervened and asked him ,"So? I don't see what the problem is in watching an action movie on your date!"

He then resumed ,"Of course it's not a problem at all!". Then Eriol took the lead ,"Dude you are not making any sense". Yamazaki said ,"I would make perfect sense if you two would just shut your yapping and listened for a change! You guys are worse than Chiharu! Anyways when I went out on a date with her the last time she made it perfectly clear to me that she hated action movies and always preferred romantic ones. Now what am I supposed to do with that huh?" Eriol said ,"That is so sad man! Really sad!" I was no longer listening to this conversation because I was thinking about a certain green eyed girl. Noticing this Eriol nudged me and brought my attention back and asked me ,"What's been eating you lately? Something wrong?" I just snorted and turned away from him. He then asked me in a mocking tone ,"Don't tell me its about Kinomoto again? You have fallen for her one hundred percent!" What? Where? How did he…? Did I just think out loud? I was sure that I wasn't. Damn that Eriol! Sometimes it even scares me to think that he might be a mind reader.

If Eriol wasn't my friend I would have beaten him to a pulp for that snide comment. I furiously turned around and faced him and said ,"Don't you even go there alright! Let me make myself perfectly clear. I am not even the least bit interested in that nerd. Hell she isn't even close to my type!" "Then why does her indifference to you frustrate you so much?", Eriol asked me which bowled me over. I couldn't retaliate. I was frozen. "You just pretend that you don't like her because you are confused about her, aren't you? You keep saying that her irritation towards your presence pleasures you but that's only an excuse Syaoran." "Tch! What do you know?", I said. "Trust me. I know a lot of things!", was his reply. And I couldn't hold it in any longer. "You know what, I am getting out of here. I have had enough of your conspiracy theories!", I told him and took off.

The Sakura tree at the farthest corner of the school campus was the quietest spot and it immediately became my sanctuary. Whenever I needed time to think I would come here for some nice peace and quiet getaway. Unfortunately my tryst with peace and quiet didn't last long as a group of girls came over and shattered it completely. Honestly! Can't these girls remain quiet for even a measly second? Would it be a crime for them to shut up? I guess its in their genes. As soon as I had gotten up from the branch on which I was sitting I began having second thoughts about descending down. Because if those girls were to notice me they would totally make a leap on me and trust me, that wouldn't be very nice! Henceforth I am technically stuck here until they scram. Out of frustration when I looked down I noticed that it was Kinomoto and her gang. Tomoyo, Naoko, Rika and Chiharu were with her.

And I had my attention fully focussed on Kinomoto. I don't know how she had that effect on me. Now that I think about it she does seem to be a lot prettier than the first time I saw her. I thought that for someone so nerdy she would speak less but no. Atleast she was a lot like the other girls in this aspect. Her auburn locks made a perfect frame for her heart shaped face. The sunrays that peeped through the shades of the leaves played on her cheeks and rendered a golden tinge which made me speechless. Her ever so enchanting emerald eyes were so lively and danced about with excitement every time she spoke to her friends. I found almost every detail of hers amusing and to be honest I don't know why. She gives me a whole load of bullshit and here I am gawking at her like a total idiot. She was not like any other girl and I was sure of it. Perhaps that's what interests me so much.

All my life I have come across clingy and overtly flirty girls who get attracted to me like flies to an oil lamp and that had always annoyed me. Since my reputation as a model student was on the line, no matter how much I hated it, I always end up being nice to them without much choice. I snapped out of my daydream when a certain voice called me from below. It was Tomoyo.

"I didn't notice you were up there Li! What are you doing over there? Come down!", she beamed at me. How sweet of her! She was always an angel to others unlike a certain grouch. She should learn something from her best friend! I obliged and dropped down from the branch effortlessly. I noticed that Kinomoto was glaring at me as I came down. Her expression was simply priceless.

Tomoyo asked me ," Have you had your lunch yet?" to which I replied ,"Not yet. I was going to but Eriol really pissed me off, sooo…ya!" "Why don't you have lunch with us for a change! We even have an extra bento box", Tomoyo offered. "Nah! That's alright. And besides I don't think I can digest my food sitting beside someone who is ready to bite my head off". At the corner of my eye I could see that Kinomoto was having difficulty maintaining her composure. Out of much difficulty she opened her mouth and asked me ,"What were you doing up there anyway? You were eavesdropping on us weren't you?"

"As much as I would love to do it, No! I am not that desperate anyway princess!", I said and winked at her. That did it! I swear I heard the vein in her head pop out of outrage. She forgot about her lunch and her friends and charged at me with a twig that had fallen off from the tree. I stuck my tongue out to her to get her more worked up and was successful in doing it. It was a good thing I was good in athletics. It gave me the edge over her. To my surprise she wasn't too bad either. I noticed that she was closing in on me pretty fast. When I looked back I saw the anger in her eyes. I have never seen her so angry at me before. As the distance between me and her kept on decreasing I had to do something before I end up in a coma or much worse. Without much choice I made a sharp turn around a tree and climbed up. She ran over to that spot and kept on searching for me. She might not have noticed me climbing up. Thank heavens for that! But my inner mischievous self kept telling me to pull her leg again. I knew that this would be like adding fuel to fire but its worthwhile. I kept listening to her constant rambling.

"Where are you?, you jerk!" "Come on out scaredy cat!", she kept going on. And then I did the unexpected. I immediately jumped down and made an appearance in front of her which was accompanied by her shrill cry. She dropped the twig from her hand and her entire body jerked. As a result she tripped and brought me down along with her as she fell. She landed safely on top of me. It was a good thing that the ground was grassy, otherwise I would have experienced a nasty concussion! She had my shirt tightly clutched by her pale , delicate fingers and I had my hands circled around her waist to provide support. She lifted her head up and made eye contact with me. That was the moment I had fully lost consciousness of my surroundings. Those green pools were clearly etched with shock. I felt that as long as I had stared into her eyes I was being absorbed deep into them. I was spellbound and tied up and I couldn't break free. I slowly distracted myself from her eyes and noticed that her pink lips were slightly parted. Her breath was ragged from all the running and so was mine.

Finally she put her hands on my chest and pushed herself off me. Reluctantly I had to let her go. I pulled myself up from the ground and dusted the dirt off my trousers. From afar I could see Tomoyo and the rest of the girls approaching us. I could see a faint tinge of pink spread across her porcelain cheeks and it added to her beauty.

"Are you alright Sakura? We heard you scream. You are not hurt are you?", Tomoyo asked her out of concern. "I am ok Tomoyo. Li broke my fall", she told her. "Did he now? I am so glad. Thank you Li", exclaimed Tomoyo. "Ah! It was nothing.", I told lazily. When I was about to make my exit I came near her ear and whispered "I enjoyed it. Very much!". With a smirk playing about my lips I clicked my tongue and noticed the disgust in her eyes. She yelled at me ," You sick masochistic pervert! I despise you!" There wasn't an end to this pleasure. There simply wasn't. And I am afraid I had fallen prey. Fallen prey to a sick masochistic addiction. How will I ever free myself from it? I am afraid I don't know how!

**That's a wrap on this chapter. Do you think Sakura will ever start treating him as a friend? What will happen as Li slowly starts falling for her? do read and drop in your reviews about it. Praises and criticisms are equally welcomed. **


	3. I hate him to death!

A/N

Thank you all for all the wonderful reviews. It really means a lot to me. I would love it if people following and liking this story could also share their views about it. Just keep supporting me and give me suggestions so that I may do justice to this story. Also someone asked me why Sakura hates Syaoran so much in this story. It is because Syaoran's first impression on Sakura was not all that good. Its clearly stated in the flashback in chapter 1. I hope this explains it. Now for all of you who have been eagerly anticipating the next chapter, here it is! Also I would also like to say that I might take some time for the next chapter because I have my semester exams. Here is Chapter 3 for you.

Sakura's P.O.V

The moment my body made contact with his when I fell seemed like a moment I would not forget for the rest of my life. I stared at his amber eyes which were enchanting. I can't believe that I am saying this but I think I know why those crazy fan girls always gawk at him like idiots. He looked so different from up close. Is it because I am noticing him and his so called amazing looks for the first time? I can't believe it has been almost a year since he came to Tomoeda high and that I had been constantly ignoring him. With much difficulty I gained strength and pushed myself off him. I saw Tomoyo and the others approaching me with a worried expression. He got up and came close to me and whispered ,"I enjoyed it! Very much". At that moment my rational thinking just left the building and I stood watching him leave me smirking and waving at me. I can't believe I didn't retaliate. To be precise, I couldn't retaliate. No matter how many times I had badly wanted to at least slap him hard across his cheeks at that moment, my hands seemed so frozen and I couldn't move them one bit. I did what I could do and that was scream hateful curse words at the top of my lungs.

"I hate him. I so hate him", I huffed. Tomoyo said ,"From what I can see I think he has taken a liking to you Sakura!" "Tomoyo don't you even joke about it. Have you gone nuts?", I exclaimed clearly disappointed with my best friend. And then the bell rang indicating that it was the end of lunch break. "Let's hurry or else its detention this weekend!", Rika said nervously.

When we were climbing the stairs up Naoko suggested ,"How about we check out the new ice cream parlour that's open from today?" "Yay! Ice cream", screamed Rika. "Sorry guys but I have some grocery shopping to do with Yamazaki today", told Chiharu. "That's ok. There is a grocery shop beside the parlour. You can invite Yamazaki too if you want", said Naoko.

"You guys are gonna have ice cream? Let me join you too!", exclaimed Eriol with a child like voice. I thought of having an all girl outing for having some girl fun but here are two boys tagging along. Anyways there was no point in resorting to damage control since the damage is already done and the more the merrier right? So I had to give in. I can understand Yamazaki tagging along because of Chiharu. But Eriol? Seems like Mr. Hiragizawa has finally admitted to his crush on my best friend. I have secretly caught them a lot of times stealing glances at each other. Tomoyo has even blurted out that her ideal type was someone like Eriol during a "truth or dare". Eriol is a very nice guy and I have always sensed a certain sort of adoration that he holds towards Tomoyo and vice versa. The way he talks to her and the way he looks at her are quite cute. Both of them haven't professed their love or anything but things certainly started to get interesting between them. So without any other option I had to agree for the sake of my best friend.

"Ok then its settled. All of us will have loads of fun today", I told and sat down on my desk. When I turned around I saw that pervert being surrounded by a horde of girls as usual. They all started dispersing and sat down on their respective desks leaving him a full view of me staring at him. "Like what you see princess? I knew you would have to notice me one day or another" he deadpanned. "Whatever! As if I am interested in a masochist who treats girls like some source of entertainment", I said to him dripping with anger. With the expression that he had I could clearly see that he couldn't find any words for a pay back. Triumphant of having tackled him without breaking a sweat I turned around and listened diligently to the next 2 hours of class.

Finally the final bell rang and it was time to say sayonara for today. The girls flew flying kisses to Li before exiting the class and it made me sick to my stomach. I even faked a barfing sensation when I saw that and Li caught me doing it. I didn't care if he caught me doing it or not. I turned my attention towards Tomoyo and the rest of the girls and started packing up. Eriol and Yamazaki were waiting for us at the exit.

"Shall we move then? If we delay even a few more minutes the shop will become crowded", stated Eriol looking at Tomoyo to which she blushed. I cant believe what I am seeing. For the first time in my life I am seeing my best friend blush and that too upon looking at a guy! That was so kawaii! (Japanese for "cute")

"Just a sec guys while I adjust my knee pad!", I said to them. When I was done I heard someone calling Eriol from behind. It was Mr. Hothead himself. Eriol asked ,"What is it man? Do you wanna come with?" "What are you doing Eriol?", I asked him out of frustration. "Hey relax! He won't bite! Trust me", he said to me. "Very funny! For all I care, his bark is worse than his bite! So lets go!" , I told him. In all this commotion I failed to notice that he was standing right behind me listening to what I had just told Eriol.

"Really! My bark is worse than my bite? Would you be kind enough to enlighten me princess?", he asked me. Turning back, I saw that he was leaning down on me anticipating what I was about to say to him. "Go…to…hell! And stop calling me princess!", I said emphasising each word. "Aren't they just cute when they fight?", came a comment from Naoko and I glared at her in response. "Alright I am coming too and I don't have anything better to do today!", Li said. And that was that. My fate was sealed. Now I am gonna end up at the receiving end for all his tortures that are gonna follow. Just when I thought about "Five's a company but seven is a crowd" there came another one, who I am sure is gonna make me feel claustrophobic! Finally after emerging victorious he gave me his trademark smirk.

Admitting my defeat I flailed my arms in the air clearly frustrated to the core. All day I was trying to avoid this one person who has made my life a living hell and the very same person comes and stands before me face to face. "I am gonna have fun with you and there is nothing that you can do to stop me now", he said. "Why don't you just get run over by some truck or something?", I told, anger getting the better of me. He faked a hurt expression by holding onto his chest and gripping his shirt tightly and said ,"Ouch! That really hurt!" I kept my glare at him and he continued ," A lot!"

"If you guys are done with your lovers' quarrel, shall we move now? We have already wasted enough time on the both of you!", exclaimed Eriol. Both Li and I screamed in unison ,"Its not a lovers quarrel!" The gang left us both alone and proceeded walking towards the ice cream shop. I skated forward to Tomoyo's side and Li, well, I am guessing he was with Eriol! And finally we reached our destination. Luckily there wasn't much crowd. We entered and were greeted by the waitress who seemed to be completely stumped after looking at Li. "Oh man! Not this again!", I thought. The waitress seemed to be at the same age as us and kept looking at him the whole time, even when we were making orders. It was clear that she wasn't paying attention. And that bloody rascal didn't seem to mind her flirting at all. Eriol and Yamazaki were nudging him to do something to get rid of her but no! Me and the girls were already feeling awkward after watching this sickening PDA. Knowing how much of a flirt he is, he simply kept on sweet talking until my patience snapped and I punched the table hard which in turn brought back his and the waitress' attention back to me. Not only them, the receptionist, the lady at the counter, a few customers and my friends stared at me at that moment. Struggling hard to maintain composure, I balled my hands into fists and said ," If you would be kind enough to take our orders now, we would like to leave soon. As much as we'd love to stay, we simply cant bare watching your so called puke inducing "public display of affection""

That knocked the wind out of her and she apologised and diligently began taking orders. "A double scoop vanilla with chocolate syrup", ordered Eriol. "The American Pistachio delight for me", Tomoyo ordered. And then when everyone except me and Li had made their orders the waitress asked me ,"What would you like to order miss?" to which I replied ," A double scoop chocolate chip mint for me please." When the waitress turned to him he said ,"Me too". "Why must you always torture me like this?", I asked him. "Why? Whats wrong in ordering the same thing? And besides I love chocolate", he said. "Then I have no choice! I would like to have a change of order. I want a plain large scoop of vanilla topped with nuts", I said to the waitress and noticed her slash my previous order. "As a matter of fact I forgot that I was allergic to chocolate. I would like to have the same order as this beautiful girl here!", he said mindlessly and held an expression that said _what are you gonna do now?_

I could have just walked away but realising how much I haven't been spending time with my friends, I couldn't do it and forced myself to endure this mental torture. After a few minutes of slashing and rewriting orders the waitress almost wasted her entire notepad. "I cant believe we wasted a half hour just because you two cant stop slashing each other's throats", said Tomoyo. "But it was certainly entertaining", Yamazaki said. Finally I settled on the only flavour I resent the most. With great difficulty I said ,"Umm! Please just get me a scoop of strawberry sundae and I will be out of here!" "Just get me a can of coke", he said and the waitress heaved a sigh of relief. Eriol asked him ," Syaoran are you sure about this! Why couldn't you just settle with something different from Kinomoto's? Would it kill you to do that? You are drawing unnecessary attention!"

"Just back off dude! My throat's killing me from all this ordering!", he said. Our orders came and all started enjoying them when Tomoyo asked me ,"Sakura you are well aware of the consequences you will face after eating anything tasting like strawberries. Would you like to switch with mine?". Since my image was on the line and Li was staring at me I told her ,"Its ok Tomoyo! The flavour is mild. I can handle it". I am a terrible liar and I know that myself but I made it seem less obvious as possible. Within a matter of minutes I gulped down the contents of the bowl without giving any chance for the cool substance to hit my palate and cause adverse effects. When it was time for paying the bill, I felt an uneasy feeling hitting the bottom of my stomach. I quickly settled my portion of the payment and excused myself from the gang to use the restroom. Sensing my uneasiness Tomoyo followed me. I lurched forward and threw up everything that I had eaten the entire day. Tomoyo held the strands of my hair away from reaching my face. After emptying and easing my stomach I stood up and flushed it down. Tomoyo helped me wash my face and I felt a lot calmer now.

When I got back, everyone had a worried look plastered on their faces. "Is everything ok Sakura? You don't look so good!", Chiharu asked me worriedly. "Ya I am alright! I had to use the restroom. That's all. Don't worry about me!", I managed to say with a very weak voice. Everyone started walking back home while Li and I trailed behind. When I turned around I found Li quizzically eyeing me with suspicion. That idiot! It was his entire fault that I threw up and here he is staring at me again! I shot him a death glare and he came near me and asked me under his breath,"Strawberries aren't your cup of tea! Am I right princess?"

Where? How? What in the world is going on? How did he figure it out? I manage to ask him ,"How did you find out?" "Oh please! Enough with the tough girl act already. You made it quite obvious while you were eating it. You were eating it as though it tasted like poop!", he told me and continued ,"You endured it even though you despise it that much! Why ? So you could put on a tough face in front of me? Do you dislike me that much?". His question came like a bolt from the blue and I had to say ,"Yes. I hate you. I despise even staring at your face".

I said to him and proceeded skating forward when he suddenly came and stood in front of me making me almost skid. "I am not done yet!", he said with a stern voice. "But I am!" I said, leaving him all to himself. I don't know what his problem was but I could have sworn I noticed a glint of sadness in his eyes when I left him there and I started feeling uneasy again. This time it was not the nauseating feeling. This time it was guilt. I was feeling guilty for having been rude to him. Surely his first impression wasn't all high and mighty but I have been giving him the cold shoulder for almost a year now. I pondered about it even after I reached home and I couldn't concentrate on my lessons that evening. What have you done to me, Li Syaoran? What have you done?

**That's it. As Sakura ponders about her hatred towards Syaoran, will she finally be able to cut him some slack and begin befriending him? What do you think she will do? Enjoy this chapter and let me know if I am going too slow and that I need to pick up pace! And most importantly the usual request to all my readers is I want you all to read and review this and not merely favourite or follow this story. Keep supporting me like this. And I have to mention a special thanks to akin'to38 for always being the first one to review on all my stories. Kindly be patient with me because I might take more time for the next chapter. Love you my readers!**


	4. What the hell!

A/N

Hey guys I am back with another chapter like I promised. I managed to find some time in between my hectic study schedule. Thanks for all your wonderful support and reviews. Here is Chapter 4. Enjoy!

Syaoran's P.O.V

I don't know what I have done to deserve this hatred from her. I have never been so engrossed in a girl before. Sure I am good looking and girls practically worship me but she is totally different. Maybe that's why I couldn't get enough of her. She really drives me crazy when she stares at me with that intense gaze. She seems to have the notion that she intimidates me when doing that but little does she know that the more she stares at me the more I get drawn towards her. Such is the magnetic pull that her eyes have over me.

I started remembering some of my encounters with her over the last year. She has always been competitive in whatever she does, be it sports or academics. She always goes out of her way to prove herself worthy and gives me cut throat competition. One such moment was during the sports day.

FLASHBACK

_It was during second year of high school and it was finally time for the Annual Sports Day of Tomoeda high. _

_Students from each and every class had enrolled their names in different events. The events for girls and boys were separate but there was this annual marathon run which was common for both girls and boys. Kinomoto had always amazed me by her prowess and dominance in sports and there she was winning each and every event she had participated in._

_I was indirectly motivated by her and gave it my all to win almost all events under the boys category. After winning the Triple Jump event I noticed that there was a lot of commotion where the girls were seated. I wanted to check it out and hence Eriol, Yamazaki and I went over there. It so happened, that little Ms. Perfectionist had sprained her ankle during Long jump. Tomoyo was worried sick about her and asked me if I had an ankle spray! Luckily I had one for emergency purposes, so I ran over to my locker room, rummaged my utility bag and ran back to where the girls were with the can in hand. I gave it to Tomoyo and she sprayed it onto her ankle where it had sprained. I could notice that she was in a lot of pain just plainly watching her face. _

"_I am fine Tomoyo. There is no pain. See!", she said, putting up a brave face. But I could notice her visibly cringe when she twisted it around a bit to show that she was ok. Was she out of her mind?_

"_I think I am ready for the marathon now!", she said and I wondered if she had twisted her brain too in the process. "But Sakura, you should rest! It might not be painful but you should at least sit this one out in my opinion!", Tomoyo said to her. "Don't be silly Tomoyo, I will be able to run once I bandage myself and I will win", Kinomoto said. This time I had to intervene._

"_What do you think you are doing?", I asked her and held her hand before she made her way to the starting line. "What do YOU think you are doing?", she asked me back. " What does it look like I am doing? I am stopping you from running the marathon", I retorted. "You are not the boss of me and you are not in the position to lecture me about what I can or cannot do alright!", she fired at me without mercy. Just when she was about to free herself from my grasp I clutched onto her arm tightly and began dragging her towards the sports instructor's cabin. She struggled and struggled but I didn't free my hold._

_Suddenly she started hitting my arm with her other free arm and I stopped at my tracks, turned around and stared at her with an intense gaze. She really was testing my patience and it finally reached my breaking point. "Don't push your luck princess! There is a limit upto which you can torture me!", I whispered to her. "You are hurting me!", she said to me with a weak voice. After having said that I noticed that my hold on her hand was indeed painful and I let go of her hand. Surprisingly she didn't run away and stood before me while I continued ,"I can't let you participate. And don't get me wrong! I am not doing this because I care. I am doing this because I want to defeat you while you are at your best form. You are a worthy opponent but I would love to compete when both of us are on equal and fairground!"_

_She replied sarcastically,"What a hypocrite! Earlier you did say that you had your limits to resist torture! What about me? Have you ever considered that even for a second? I am thankful for your concern but I don't need it. And as for the marathon, I am running no matter what. And there is nothing you can do to stop me", There was a glint of fire and determination in her eyes that I had never noticed before. And she left me standing there and assembled at the starting line. Without wasting any more time I stood at the starting line too. All my fan girls were holding up banners and cheering me on to win this race. I waved at them and got ready. I saw Kinomoto bending down and adjusting the bandage around her ankle. How pitiful! She won't last even for half the race, why all this drama I wondered!_

_At a distance I could hear the boys loudly cheering her on and showing their support. My my! Kinomoto sure is popular with the boys! Then the race started. I took it slow and steady and Kinomoto did the same although she was lagging behind. We had to run one lap of the race course and then proceed towards the Penguin park, which was 2 kms away from our school, circle the park once and then come back to finish it. As simple as that…well.. at least for me! But for Kinomoto? I doubt it. With the way she winced when she tightened her bandage I thought it was only a matter of time before she collapsed and gave it all up. Some of the competitors started picking up pace and I realised I had to as well. Man! This girl makes a lot of people worry and even I can't seem to put my mind into the competition._

_We reached the Penguin park and ran around it once and were on our way back to the school. I was in the lead followed by two boys and Kinomoto came in fourth. I knew it. She just couldn't handle the pain. With a heavy heart, I cursed myself for being affected by her so much and stopped running. Upon seeing me stop, she raised her voice and said,"Giving up already? You are even worse than I thought." The nerve of that girl! How dare she say that to me when I stopped because I was worried sick about her._

"_Ha! You really crack me up! You can't even stand up properly and here you are acting all high and mighty! You know what, I am gonna win this race just to make you realise…", I stopped and she stared at me with those beautiful eyes of hers again! "What? Make me realise what Li?", she asked me while she tightened the bandage a little more and I took the chance to finish what I meant to say ,"To make you realise that it's high time you took me seriously!" and then I ran. I ran away from her like there was no tomorrow. After a while into the race I struggled hard to maintain the lead again. When I turned around I was dumbstruck when I found that Kinomoto had been trailing close behind me."Looks like she is made of sterner stuff", I thought. When approaching the finish line I emerged the victor by a mere second. This girl is certainly not human, I am telling you! Although she was disappointed that she had lost to me, I was contended that I got to compete with someone by the likes of her. If she hadn't been injured, she would have even managed to defeat me._

_When I approached her for a handshake she just slapped my hand back saying that the next time she wouldn't go easy on me and left me staring at the palm of my hand where she had slapped it._

END OF FLASHBACK

I heard someone knocking at my door and I snapped out of my daydream. It was Wei and I ushered him in.

"Enjoying your quiet Sunday morning I presume, Master Li", he said. "Ya kind of! Do you have anything to inform me about Wei?" I asked him.

"As a matter of fact I do and it's a bad news I am afraid", he said with a grievous tone. When I asked him what the matter was he said, "I am afraid your mother called me today morning to inform me that the company is experiencing a nasty financial crunch and that this very house you are staying in has been mortgaged!" I just couldn't believe what he was saying.

"So what do we do now Wei?" I asked him. "With what's left in our hands we will have to find ourselves a new home while everything gets settled and I even came across a nice and cosy home that's been put up for rent. It's not that fancy but it should suffice for the time being", he said to me.

I asked, "How much time have we got to move?" to which Wei replied, "A month. It will almost be time for you to finish your semester by then!" Ya and then one more semester to go! Time flies by quickly when you are having fun after all!

I prepared diligently for the upcoming semester exams and finally it was show time. We had six papers to complete. And the exams lasted for two weeks. After the final exam was over Rika suggested, "Now that our exams are over why don't we head out somewhere to celebrate?" and Chiharu told, "It has been a long time since we went for a tour. What say guys?" Tomoyo said, "I think it's a great idea and you guys can join us too. And don't worry about the place 'coz I have already decided on where we are going." while pointing at me, Eriol and Yamazaki. I suddenly said, "Um! I would really love to but actually I am moving over to another house for the time being and I really need to pack my things up " I noticed Kinomoto heaving a sigh of relief when she heard me say this and I inwardly cursed myself for having let the chance of annoying her pass by.

"When are you moving exactly?", asked Eriol. I said, "In a week's time."

"Well then it's ok! You can finish up moving to your new house and then you can join us since I have planned the tour somewhere around the middle of this month!", Tomoyo told him. Kinomoto practically pulled her away to some distance and started whispering something in her ear. I even heard Tomoyo say, "Oh come on Sakura! He is not that bad! And besides its high time you started making friends with him and this is the last year of high school for Pete's sake. Who knows where you and he would be after this?" Finally admitting defeat Kinomoto sat down on one of the benches.

"So where are we going anyway?", I asked Tomoyo. Instead of her Kinomoto said, "To hell! Wanna come with?" in a sarcastic tone to which I replied, "I would even go there just for you my princess!" and the expression that followed my answer was priceless. It was the first time I am seeing her blush and it painted her cheeks a very beautiful hue of pink. She looked absolutely cute and I couldn't tear my eyes away from her face. "I wouldn't hold back to kill you the next time I hear you calling me princess!" she muttered with embarrassment. "Alright don't mind her Syaoran! We are going to Korea and our journey begins exactly one month from today and I will take care of our air tickets. So there shouldn't be any problem.", Tomoyo said with excitement brimming in her eyes. Kinomoto asked her, "What? Korea? The land of KPOP? Does that mean we get to see Super Junior? Are you serious?" she was excited to the core and even began jumping up and down. She was absolutely adorable and I kinda liked watching her childish version for a change.

"Yes Kinomoto, you will get to meet not only them but all KPOP guys!" said Eriol. "Tch! These guys! What's so good about Korean guys anyway? I bet none of them would be as good looking as me!", I thought to myself. "By the way! Why Korea? You have some business there or something?", I asked Tomoyo out of curiosity. She said ,"There are exactly three reasons. One: I wanna try out their famous BB cream from Etude House. Two: I wanna try an alcoholic drink called Soju and Three: 'Coz I wanna go to Jeju Island. I heard it's the most beautiful place in Korea. And I wanted to go there with all my friends before High school gets over."After that we all went back to our respective homes.

Sakura's P.O.V

There was this loud noise which was preventing me from concentrating on my lessons. Annoyed to bits, I climbed downstairs and asked my dad what the noise was while he stepped out of the corridor. "I don't know Sakura but it seems like someone is moving in to the neighbouring house", my dad said and he shut the door behind him without noticing who it was. After what seemed like eternity, the noise stopped and the large truck disappeared.

It was 11: 30 p.m and my eyelids started to droop. I stopped myself from studying and called it a day and went to sleep.

Our semester was already over and the school closed down for the summer leaving only one more semester to go to graduate from high school. I decided to sleep in the next morning since I didn't have school when suddenly I heard our door bell ring. When I stepped down I noticed that my dad had already left for work. The door bell kept on ringing. Jeez! What an impatient visitor I wondered and I proceeded towards the front door and opened it. I found a pair of familiar amber eyes etched with shock staring back at me.

"Its you!", both said in unison. As he stood in front of me I began contemplating a lot of things in my mind. Why oh why does this world have to be so cruel to me? What did I do to deserve this?

**That's a wrap on the 4****th**** chapter. I hope you guys won't mind me fan girling over my favourite KPOP band in the next chapter. Please bear with me on this. Now that Syaoran has managed to become Sakura's neighbour, will sparks of love finally start flying between them? Only time will tell..I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please read and review guys.**


	5. This is so not happening!

A/N

So guys I am back with another chapter for all of you. I hope you will like this one too. And thanks for all the support and reviews. They really encourage me to always come up with better chapters. Keep this up. So here is chapter 5…

A quick recap of the last chapter.

The Li corporations run by Syaoran's family, experiences financial crunch. Due to this Syaoran's house gets mortgaged. Hence he moves into a new house and coincidentally becomes Sakura's neighbour.

Syaoran's P.O.V

There I was standing at my neighbour's doorstep gawking at my neighbour like a total idiot. I was completely shocked to notice that I ended up being Sakura Kinomoto's neighbour. She had her eyes and her mouth wide open and her gaze had me transfixed. Every time the same thing happens whenever I look into her emerald eyes. I was spellbound and couldn't break free. Suddenly she became aware of the situation and snapped her fingers in front of my face. Thus I was released from my reverie.

"What the hell are you doing here? And how did you know that I live here? You weren't stalking me, were you? 'Coz if u are then I am calling the police!" she said breathlessly to me.

"Calm down princess! I am not stalking you. As a matter of fact I am your new neighbour and I had no clue that you lived here, honestly! This is all a coincidence" I said with a puppy dog face.

"What do you want anyway? And how many times have I told you not to call me that?" she asked me. I could say that she was clearly annoyed with my presence.

"I don't know. Maybe countless times but I have already told you that I like calling you that!" I said to her. She pouted her lips and that made her look extra cute.

"And the reason why I came is that I wanted to know if there are any pharmaceutical shop nearby?" I told her.

"There is one at the end of the street. Is something wrong by the way?" she asked me worriedly.

"Oh! No everything is fine. It's just that my butler is asthmatic so I wanna stock up on some inhalers and other medicines" I told her.

"Why were you so curious to know? Don't tell me that you were worried about me?' I asked her, smirk playing at my lips.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh! As if I would worry about a rich spoilt brat like you!" she retorted.

"Oh and by the way! I have been standing at your doorstep for ages. Not polite enough to welcome your new neighbour in? Shame on you princess" I said mockingly to her and tried entering her house.

She blocked my way when I tried. After a few seconds of evasion I was successful in sneaking in to get a glimpse of her humble abode. It was cute, comfortable and cosy. _Just like her_ I thought to myself.

"Hm not too shabby! In fact I quite like your house" I said to her.

"Thanks for the compliment and if you are done touring my house, would you be kind enough to get your nosy ass out of here! I can't waste my precious study time." She said sarcastically.

"Man you sure are itchy! Fine I am going but I need to tell you something before I go" I told her.

"What is it now?" she asked me with an annoyed tone.

"As you may know, I am new to this neighbourhood and I want somebody to tour me around so I can get used to living here." I told her.

"And you are telling all this to me because..?" she asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"I want you to be my personal guide since I don't know this place. What do you say?" I asked her.

"No way! Go find someone else." she said to me without even considering it for a second.

"Why not? You are the only person that I know in this entire neighbourhood and it is your responsibility as my neighbour to make me accustomed."I told her sternly.

"If I say I won't then I mean I won't. And it's final. Got it?" she told me and forcefully shoved me outside her door and shut it tight.

But I didn't give up. I was gonna make her help me out if it's the last thing I do. "You will help me willingly and I have got just the plan" I said to myself and made my way into my new home.

When I entered I could smell fresh bacon sizzling in a frying pan indicating that Wei was busy in the kitchen. Within a few minutes the breakfast was ready and Wei and I started eating.

"By any chance, did you know our neighbour beforehand Master Li?" Wei asked me out of the blue. I almost choked on my orange juice when he asked me.

"Oh! Yes Wei. Her name is Sakura Kinomoto and she is my classmate" I told him

"Is she a friend or just an acquaintance?" he asked me.

"Hmm! let me think. It's quite complicated actually. I wanna become friends with her but she doesn't approve since her first impression of me isn't something to brag about" I told him.

"It seemed as though you were quite comfortable around her. You seemed happy. Any specific reason for that?" he asked me and the bacon in my mouth got caught half way down my throat. I gulped down mouthfuls of orange juice and stared at him shocked.

"Is she someone special?" he continued asking me.

"I don't know Wei. She is different from all the girls that I have met so far. Maybe that's why she interests me so much!" I said to him and got up after finishing my breakfast.

Then I climbed upstairs and entered my room. It was certainly not like the usual master bedroom from my old house. Rather it was cosy and oddly welcoming. Nevertheless I liked it a lot. I quickly got ready and came downstairs.

"Wei! I am gonna go get some medicines. I will be right back!" I told him and headed outside.

Since it was the start of summer, all the houses seemed brightly colourful as the sun gleamed and shed its rays on the rooftops. I could see some of the kids in the neighbourhood taking out their inflatable rubber kiddy pools, filling them up with water and having a time of their lives. After a few minutes of walking I finally reached the pharmaceutical shop and bought medicines for Wei and returned home. On the way I could see a tall and well built guy entering Kinomoto's house holding hands with Sakura. She has never mentioned anything about being committed! He seemed to be in his mid twenties. I wonder who that could be! Her boyfriend may be. The possibility of that guy being her boyfriend really annoyed me to the core for some reason. And I couldn't put a finger on why I was feeling this way! I pushed the thought aside and got inside my house.

That evening….

It was time to initiate my plan. The plan was simply to barge into her house as soon as she opens the door, firmly plant my rear in one of the couches and tell her I am not leaving until she agrees to go grocery shopping with me. And that was how I am gonna convince Kinomoto to help me get accustomed to the neighbourhood. "If you can't get anything willingly, get it by force" this was gonna be my motto.

I got outside and walked towards her house. I rang the door bell a couple of times and I was received at the door by a man wearing glasses greeting me with a kind smile.

"Oh who might you be, young man?" he asked me.

"Um. I am your neighbour and my name is Syaoran Li" I introduced myself to him.

"Oh so you are our new neighbour. Please come inside and make yourself at home" he said to me. And I entered. For some reason I couldn't see Sakura anywhere in proximity.

"Oh silly me I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Fujitaka Kinomoto." I said to me.

"You are Kinomoto? The famous archaeology professor from Tokyo University? It's an honour meeting you in person." I said to him out of surprise.

"My! My! I didn't know I was famous!" he exclaimed.

"I am fascinated with your work sir. And honestly I am interested in archaeology myself "I said to him, dedication spilling from my eyes.

"Good. Not many people are interested in archaeology these days. You are unique I must say!" he told me with a pleasing smile.

"What would you like to have Syaoran? I hope you like tea" he asked me.

"Oh that's alright sir! No need to trouble yourself over me" I said to him politely.

"There is no trouble at all son. You are our guest after all!" he said as he went into the kitchen to make some tea for me.

And while he was doing that I entertained myself with looking around the house one more time. The last time when I came here Kinomoto was so eager in shoving me out that I couldn't get a proper look. I was looking around and suddenly my eyes came across a picture of a beautiful woman with long and wavy black hair. She had the same emerald eyes that seemed so captivating and her face was ever so radiant adorned by the most beautiful and angelic smile I have ever seen. It was so serene and calm watching her face. Then suddenly Mr. Kinomoto came closer to me standing with my cup of tea in hand.

"Oh I am sorry sir I wasn't paying attention! Can I ask you who this is?" I asked him curiously while sipping on my tea.

"She is my wife. She passed away 16 years ago. Her name is Nadeshiko." He said to me with a sorrowful expression.

I could feel the tea getting stuck in my throat, reluctantly not wanting to go further down. I swallowed with difficulty and said "I am sorry sir. I didn't realise it"

"No! Don't be sorry. It's perfectly fine" he said without ever faltering to smile at me.

I really didn't know that Sakura had lost her mom immediately after being born. But I must say that she really does resemble a lot like her was oddly comforting explaining my predicament and the reason why I decided to move into this neighbourhood to him. And he listened patiently. Within a few minutes I could hear someone's footsteps descending down the stairs. Finally the person came into view. That was the exact same guy I saw earlier this morning entering their house. The one whom I suspected to be Sakura's boyfriend.

"Oh! I didn't know we had a visitor. Who is this dad?" he asked Mr. Kinomoto.

Dad? Is it just me or did I just hear him calling Mr. Kinomoto dad?

"This is our new neighbour Touya. Syaoran, this is my son Touya. He studies Aviation in Tokyo University. He just came back this morning for his holidays." He introduced him to me.

Only then did I feel a strange sort of relief wash over me. He was his son, which makes him Sakura's big brother. Ha! Silly me! I extended my hand out for a handshake.

"Nice meeting you! I am Syaoran Li" I said to him and Mr .Kinomoto narrated my background and about my wealthy family and about me being the heir to the fortune of The Li Corporations.

"Oh so you are loaded huh? Where do you study?" he asked me. But before I could reply to that I heard someone descending downstairs yelling something. It was Sakura.

"Dad! I am hungry. Do we have any..What? It's you again?" she pointed at me.

"Do you guys know each other by any chance?" Touya asked me.

"Well I was going to say that I go to Tomoeda high and that I am one of Sakura's Classmates!" I told him.

"Oh how wonderful! So you know my daughter already! That saves me the trouble of introducing her. So you two are friends right?" her dad asked me.

"Yes we are dad! We are friends" she said and surprised me in an instant.

"And I hope you will keep it that way. I don't usually approve of Sakura having boys as friends. I am gonna have my eyes on you little boy" he said to me with a threatening tone. I gulped at the intensity. Jeez! Now this is what I call the epitome of over protectiveness.

After that Touya left the house saying that he had to visit his friend. That really brought relief to me.

"Um…I actually came here to ask the whereabouts of any grocery shop nearby" I said nervously.

"Oh dear! There aren't any nearby. You will have to go into town for that. It's easy to get lost. I tell you what! Sakura can accompany you there!" her dad told me.

Finally without much effort her dad made it all the more easy for me to spend some time with her. I watched her expression and it was priceless. It was as if the time had frozen for her. She couldn't retaliate at all.

"You will accompany him, wont you Sakura? And besides we are almost out of groceries ourselves." he asked her.

"But dad, I really want to catch up on my Chemistry." She said.

"Oh but you always get stuck up there with your books and I have some lessons to prepare for tomorrow's lecture as well. It won't take much of your valuable study time dear." He said.

"Yes dad! I will go!" she said, gritting her teeth, faking a smile and shooting daggers at me at the same time. Inwardly I smiled triumphantly of having accomplished my mission. "Just wait here while I get changed!" she instructed me and went upstairs to change. Thanks a million to Mr. Kinomoto!

She came back down in ten minutes and she looked absolutely pretty in her white lacy top and black skirt that reached till her knees.

"If you are done gawking at me, can we get going? I don't have all day you know!" she said to me at a low voice. I agreed and followed her out of her house.

"You are gonna pay for this! I swear!" she threatened me but she got a victorious smile from me as her response. This was gonna be fun.

**Now this is the next chapter..and I have successfully completed college as of yesterday..thank you for all the support so far. Keep reading and give reviews. I am sorry that I couldn't do anything interesting in this chapter but rest assured for the next one, 'coz its gonna be a heck of a lot of fun..have fun reading!**


	6. He is not that bad!

The next chapter for my story is up for reading. Here you go….chapter 6. For some of my readers who have been anxious to know what happens after Sakura reluctantly agrees to go out with Syaoran, I hope you find reading this chapter worthwhile..

Sakura's P.O.V

I don't know what my dad was thinking, asking me to accompany this jerk to the grocery store. I already have much work that needs to be completed before this vacation draws to a close and here I am aimlessly wandering with this womanizing freak. What did I do to deserve this? Why does he keep bothering me when I am not the least bit interested in him? Oh! God knows what tricks he has got up his sleeve. I better keep my distance from him.

"So I have a question for you and I need you to answer honestly" he requested me.

"What is it now?" I asked him irritatingly.

"Oh come on! Can't you be more welcoming towards me? I am not some stranger that you need to act all defensive around. Loosen up a little" he said to me.

I wanted to retaliate but he suddenly raised his finger and silenced me. Reluctantly i had to swallow my words and I let him ask me the stupid darn question.

"Back then you told your dad that both of us were friends when clearly I know that we are not even close to call ourselves acquaintances. Can I ask you the reason why you said that?" he asked me out of the blue. I had not expected him to ask me this question and I thought he would have forgotten about it. I guess I can't escape and might as well tell the truth.

"Well if u must know, my dad doesn't like me behaving rudely to people. He always thinks I am this model daughter who is always polite and kind to them" I said to him.

"So why put up this act? So what if my first impression is not good? You can't always go judging people with their first impressions. What if there is more to me than meets the eye?" he told me holding a half smirk.

"I don't know what your problem is with me. I have never behaved rudely to you as far as I know. Is it that difficult to change your opinion about me?" he asked me and there he had me stunned and utterly lost for words. In all this worthless talk we didn't notice that we had arrived at the grocery store. Thank god! This atleast gave me an excuse to avoid his question.

"Oh look we are here already!" I said and entered the store leaving a puzzled Li outside. I looked out and noticed that he wasn't coming inside. After a while I knocked at the glass door and snapped him out of whatever he was thinking about. He came inside and grabbed a shopping basket near the cash counter and so did I.

"Wow this place is huge. Are you sure this is just the grocery store? This looks more like a super market to me!" he said trying to maintain a conversation with me.

"Ya this is the largest grocery store in all of Tomoeda. Now could you please just hurry up. I need to get home soon" I said to him impatiently.

"Alright alright! Whatever you say princess!" he stuck his tongue out to me as he advanced. Ugh! This guy was driving me nuts! The more time I spend with him the more I feel close to losing my sanity. I could rip my hair out any moment and could be pulled in to some mental asylum possibly.

It seemed like ages since he started picking out the necessary items that he needed. And I was losing valuable time. Finally he finished his shopping and headed towards the cash counter. A girl who seemed like a teenager was the cashier. And she immediately got smitten by his looks. I could see her playing with her hair and twirling it between her fingers nervously while stealing glances at him and speaking to him in a sickly sweet tone that made me sick to my guts. What is wrong with girls these days? Just what do they see in him that makes them go weak in the knees in an instant? I impatiently crossed my arms and started tapping my foot on the ground while this flirt fest continued. When I felt I couldn't take it anymore, I raised my voice at her that made both Li and her jump and come back to Earth.

"Ahem! Excuse me. If you don't mind I would like you to take care of my payment first so you two can continue your coochy-cooing in peace" I said with sarcasm evident in my tone.

"Um! Sorry about that! I am terribly sorry" she apologised profusely to me while I just ignored.

By the time I settled my payment and was heading out I could hear her asking" Is she your girlfriend?" to Li. He replied "Nah! Why would I be interested in a nerd like her when I have a fine girl like you in front of me!"

I felt my insides churn when I heard this. The nerve of this pervert! First he comes into my house and practically orders me around and then he daringly insults me in front of a nobody. I furiously turned away and slammed the glass door shut intentionally such that it made an audible clanking sound. I was at my wits end. And I could just blow my top at anyone or anything that came way at this moment. In the distance I could hear footsteps approaching me and a strong hand held onto my arm stopping me from walking. I turned around and saw that it was Li heavily panting and sweat dripping from tips of his bangs.

"Where do you think you are going without me?" he asked me breathlessly. I squirmed and finally slipped out of his iron grip.

"This is a free country. I could go wherever I please and its none of your fucking business by the way!" I said to him.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being so rude to me?" he asked me exasperatedly.

"What's wrong with me you ask? What's wrong with you? You were the one who wanted my help and being an idiot as I am I agreed without thinking and here you are courting some random cashier girl and bad mouthing about me to her like I wasn't even there and you are asking me what's wrong with me!" I vented out all my anger at him. In the process I didn't even realise that I had shouted at him so loudly that people in the vicinity started glaring at us.

"Um! I am sorry about what I did! I feel so ashamed for having said that." he said to me.

"Just being sorry doesn't cut it Li. You know what this tour is off and so am I. Go look for some girl who likes ogling at your so called seemingly perfect face" I said to him in a fit of anger. And as I turned to leave he came and stood in front of me blocking my way.

"What do you think you are doing? Let me go!" I said to him sternly. Out of nowhere both his hands came and rested on my shoulders. I noticed he was leaning down so that he could get to my eye level. He made eye contact with me and brought his lips near my ear and whispered "No..Can..Do..Princess"

I could feel my ears starting to burn literally and my face thoroughly flushed red like a ripe tomato. The moment he huskily whispered those words to me seemed to freeze and it felt as though time refused to move forward. I got goose bumps at places that I didn't even know I could possibly get. All in all I was a downright flustered mess. How can he make me feel these weird things that I haven't experienced ever in my life?

"A..and w..what makes you think I can't leave without your consent? I am outta here!"I said struggling to get his hold off my shoulders but failing miserably.

"You can't go. I don't even know how to get back. What if I get lost?" he asked me with a sullen expression.

"Ha! And you think I care? I would be the happiest person on this planet if that ever happened!" I said with a sarcastic smile.

"Look I am sorry alright! I was being a jerk back there and I really wanna make it up to you! Please just give me one chance" he begged me. "You are out of your mind if you think you can ever make it up to me" I said to him.

"Please just give me one more chance. Please please please!" he said while suddenly kneeling down and holding both his hands together as a symbol of his earnest request. I looked around and was embarrassed beyond limits when I found people staring at us and muttering something under their breaths. Before I lost even the slightest bit of dignity left I had to stop this drama queen.

"Alright alright fine! Just get up already. Man! This is so embarrassing. Why did you have to put up this drama anyway?" I asked him.

"Anything to get your trust back princess!" he said with a triumphant smile. Oh brother! I am stuck with this guy like a Velcro and he sure knows how to get things done his way! I feel my steely resolve slowly melting away the more I am stuck with him.

"How about we go to some fun place? What do you say?" he asked me.

"I can't, I have to get home soon. My dad would be worried about me" I said.

"Oh come on! I said I will make it up to you didn't I! And I really wanna do it now." he insisted.

"Alright you win! Just don't go kneeling down again. Where are we going?" I asked him as I was utterly defeated.

"Lets have some ice cream. My treat!" he said.

"Well I can't say no to free ice cream. I hope you have enough cash 'coz I am gonna drain you out" I said to him. For the very first time I felt startled at my own tone of voice while I said that to him. Never in my life have I ever dreamed that this day would come. I was being cheerful around the one person who has annoyed me to hell, the one person that I despise the most. And I must say that he was equally startled as I was.

"I didn't know you had this side to you princess. I quite like it!" he said to me.

"Well don't get the hang of it already 'coz this is only for tonight and that too because its ice cream and you are paying." I told him.

"Ever heard about the word "Cheapskate"? That's you right now" he enlightened me.

"If its bothering you so much then we can forget about all this "making-up-to-me" agenda entirely" I said to him sarcastically.

"Ok ok. No need to take such drastic measures." He said and both of us got seated.

The waiter came to get our orders.

"A double chocolate fudge with extra cherries and nuts for me" I ordered. "The same for me" he said without thinking. I suddenly felt "Deja' vu" as I heard him say that. It was not too long ago that he did the same and nearly made me get admitted in a hospital because of the disgusting strawberry flavoured ice cream that I had that day that made me puke my guts out.

I glared at him and signalled him that I would leave if he ever thought of doing the same again. Somehow I think he would have figured it out 'coz he called the waiter back and requested a change of order.

"I will have a double chocolate chip mint please" he said and the waiter scribbled it down and left to get our orders.

"Much better! You are a fast learner Li" I said to him.

"You are such a blackmailer you know that? I was afraid you would bail out on me" he said to me, worry etched in his amber eyes. He then continued "And I was afraid that you might do something stupid like having strawberry ice cream again and puke all over me"

"I am tired arguing with you. So please stop provoking me" I pleaded with him.

"Does that mean you will befriend me?" he asked me innocently.

"Ha! Don't get your hopes up buddy! I meant I was tired arguing today. Befriending you is still a long shot" I told him firmly.

" I have never noticed even you can be cheerful at times" he said while resting his face upon his palms.

"Well since you said you were gonna treat me to ice cream I couldn't say no and since this place has a male waiter I feel all the more relieved!" I said to him.

"And why is that?"he asked me. "Well if it's a female I will have to witness a nasty case of flirting and it really sickens me" I told him.

"Why does it bother you? Don't tell me you are beginning to have a thing for me?" he asked me. My mouth went wide open after I heard him asking that question.

"You are so full of yourself. I don't like it 'coz it sickens me, nothing more!"I said to him sternly.

"Ok I believe you!" he told me sarcastically. "But I am telling the truth" I said to him.

"I said I believe you princess! Honestly." he told me. To which I replied "Well it sure doesn't look like you believe me" By then the waiter came with our orders. It was heaven. Simply heaven!

As I was slurping on my ice cream I noticed that Li had already finished his and was rudely staring at me eating mine. I stopped eating and scrunched up my eyebrows and said "Its rude to stare at people while they eat. And if you think looking like that will earn you some of my ice cream you better think again buddy"

"Ha ha! I wasn't gonna aim for your ice cream at all. I was looking at you. You look so adorable smearing ice cream all over your face like that" he told me jokingly.

Embarrassed by his comment I quickly took a piece of tissue paper and wiped the remnants away. After finishing the ice cream Li paid for it and we left the shop with our grocery bags in hand.

Syaoran's P.O.V

At the ice cream shop, she looked absolutely adorable munching away on her ice cream greedily without having a care of the world. I was completely amused with the way she brought the spoon full of the mushy stuff and stuffed it inside her mouth relishing its taste by rolling the blob over and over her tongue till it melted completely and swallowing it afterwards.

I could say that she loved chocolate flavour so much with the way she relished it. Her green eyes usually symbolic of anger held pure happiness and amusement at that moment and it made me all the more happy. Suddenly she reminded me of her mother whose picture I had seen this evening in the living room. I could certainly see a stark resemblance between herself and her mother and I can say that she will grow up to be a beautiful and marvellous young lady someday just like her mother.

After she finished I paid for the ice cream as I promised and we both left the shop.

"Oh my! Look at the time. Its 8:30 already. Touya and dad would be worried sick about me." She said nervously.

"Oh ya. Well sorry about that little detour that we had to make! We better leave soon then" I told her and both of us started walking towards our homes.

"Um! So you have an over protective brother I see" I asked her.

"Huh! Oh ya. Well Touya can get over board sometimes but he is such a sweet heart. Sometimes he really bites my head off though." She told me. For some strange reason I could feel that the animosity that she had against me suddenly started to lift as she shared more and more of her personal things with me and I did the same.

"Do you miss your brother?" I asked her.

"Of course I do! I mean he comes here once in a blue moon. But he is finishing college this year while I am entering it" she said to me.

"You do work so hard for these entrance exams don't you? Has it been your dream to enter Tokyo university?" I asked her.

"Ya you could say that. My dad is an archaeology professor in Tokyo University and he goes there daily which is quite tedious. So I wanna make things easy for him next year. If I get admission there dad and I have decided to move to Tokyo permanently while Touya goes off to America for his Post Graduation" she told me.

So she is gonna be moving to Tokyo after her high school graduation. That means I only have another semester to be with her. This revelation made me sad. To think that I have roughly six months only to be with her really pained me.

"Here we are! So I will get going and um..thanks for the ice cream." she said to me and left me standing at her front door.

"Kinomoto!" I called out. She turned around and asked me" What is it?"

I paused a little and said "Good night". "Ya. You too" was her reply. Was it just me or did I see a faint smile playing about her lips while she entered her house? To think that treating her to an ice cream would actually have such a positive outcome really excited me. From now on things would become a lot smoother between me and her and I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

Sakura's P.O.V

I entered my house and it was 8:45 p.m. "Dad I am home. And here is the grocery" I said to him while I started upstairs.

"What took you so long?" dad asked me.

"Well I had to make a little detour that's all" I said to him and happily climbed upstairs and went into my room.

Seems like that Li isn't such a snobby, stuck up rich and spoiled pervert at all. The problem was in my thinking. I can't believe that I was so close to biting his head off just a moment ago and it had all turned topsy-turvy in minutes. I should give him a chance. I should behave nicely to him. After all its almost the end of high school life.

I went to close the window when I saw him staring out his window and at me. I was startled and surprised to see how close his house was to mine and how close his window sill was to mine. He smiled at me and mouthed a "Good night" to me.

Getting flustered I quickly shut the window and pulled down the curtains. Strange! Why was I getting flustered after seeing him? Not another complication!

**I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter. Finally Sakura contemplates on her feelings for Syaoran and thinks of giving him a chance of being her friend. Will this new found friendship blossom into something more? You will have to follow this story to find out in the later chapters. For all of you who have given wonderful reviews, a big thank you from me. Keep giving me reviews and keep supporting me. Criticisms are also welcome guys. Sayonara for now! love ya'll..3**


	7. My friend Syaoran

Normal P.O.V

It was a bright sunny day and the sun's rays started creeping into her room through the window. Touya had already left early in the morning to catch his train back to Tokyo since his holidays were over. In her room, Sakura had her plush toy named "Kero" tightly clasped close to her chest. But the problem was that she was having a disturbed sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed when suddenly her alarm clock went off and she woke up startled. It was 6 a.m but she couldn't fully open her eyes because of the insufficient sleep last night. Her head was feeling groggy and she couldn't breathe properly. She thought that it could have been due to the harsh weather lately. She immediately pulled the drawer that contained the necessary emergency medicines in her room and popped in a para-acetamol in her mouth and drank some water. She thought of catching on to some sleep afterwards. Nevertheless her breathing trouble didn't cease.

Her dad had called her to come downstairs to have breakfast but she said to him that she will have it after some time 'coz she was tired. Hence her dad climbed upstairs to see if something was wrong with her.

"Sakura are you alright?" asked her dad.

From under the covers Sakura replied "Ya dad. I am alright. Just a little tired from lack of sleep"

"Can you get up? Do you need anything right now? If you are not well, I can take a day off and look after you. We can go to the doctor. What do you say?" her dad asked out of concern."No dad. I just gotta catch some sleep. I will be fine once I do that. Please don't worry yourself over me and go." She said reassuringly.

"But still…" her dad tried saying something but was interrupted by Sakura.

"Dad I told you I am fine. Please get going. You are gonna be late for your classes" she said to him.

"Humph! Alright then. But you are to call me immediately if something is indeed wrong with you" he ordered her.

"Sure dad. I will. Have a safe trip" she bid him goodbye with a nice and warm hug. With that her dad left for Tokyo. But little did she know that her condition could get worse.

While leaving, her dad didn't want to take any chance. He rang the doorbell of the neighbouring house and Wei opened the door.

"Oh! Good morning . Please come in" he said warmly.

"Thank you but I am kind of in a hurry. There is a favour that I need to ask of you, if you don't mind!" Sakura's dad asked Wei.

"Of course I don't mind. I will be more than happy to help you." Wei asked him.

"Thank you. I think my daughter is sick but she keeps denying the fact and I am worried about her health. So I will be very much thankful if you could keep an eye on her for me." He said to Wei.

"I see. Well no problem Mr. Kinomoto. I will take care of your daughter. Please don't worry about her and have a safe trip" Wei said to him reassuringly.

"Thanks once again. I will be leaving now Mr…I am sorry but I don't know your name" Sakura's dad told him.

"Oh well! My name is Wei and I am Master Li's butler" Wei introduced himself formally and even gave his contact number to Sakura's dad.

Within a few minutes Sakura's dad left to Tokyo.

"Wei! Who was it at the door?" Syaoran asked Wei.

"It was our neighbour Master Li" Wei said to him.

"What? Was it Sakura?" Syaoran asked him.

"Oh! No, it was her dad. It seems as though Ms. Kinomoto is sick and he asked me to take good care of her while he is away!" Wei said to Syaoran.

"What the fuck? Kinomoto is sick? But she was perfectly fine last night" Syaoran told him.

"Master Li! Just because I am nice to you always it doesn't mean that I can tolerate the use of abhorrent language in this household. Is that perfectly clear?" Wei asked him in an authoritative tone that left even Syaoran speechless.

"I am sorry Wei. It won't happen again" Syaoran told him.

After a while, Wei made some chicken soup and some porridge to give to Sakura. He then asked Syaoran to go and give it to her without any delay.

Meanwhile, at the Kinomoto household, Sakura kept tossing and turning in her bed and this frequent motion had already taken a toll on her body. Every inch of her body and every ounce of flesh ached really bad. The constant banging on her head seemed like somebody was drilling a hole through her skull. Struggling to make her body move, Sakura finally made an attempt to get up from her bed. It seemed like a Herculean task for her as she approached the jug of water to satiate her thirst. She checked her mobile and noticed that she had received a text message from her dad saying that he had asked the neighbour to take care of her and that she needed to rest her body. The mere mention of her neighbour made her think of Li immediately. She thought of last night's events. Li had treated her to ice cream and she seemed to have had decent conversations with him without having to blow her top at him every now and then. He didn't seem too bad either. Suddenly it struck her like lightning. Ice cream! It was due to the ice cream that she caught a fever.

"I should have known! Its all that Li's fault. He made me eat ice cream yesterday. That's why I am sick. Wait till I get my hands on him" she said to herself.

As she approached her bed to lie down again, somebody rung the doorbell.

"Oh why now? Who could it be?" she asked and headed downstairs. She descended the stairs with much difficulty and opened the door to see who it was. It was Li and he had a big polythene bag in his hand.

"Whoa! No kidding! You look even worse than I thought you would!" he said to her.

"You must be happy now that I am sick. After all its because of you that I have a fever now!" she said to him sarcastically.

"What the fuck are you talking about Kinomoto? How is it possibly my fault?" he asked her.

"The ice cream that you made me eat yesterday caused all …achooo! this." She said while she sneezed.

"Whoa! Watch it. don't get your cooties all over me and get me sick as well" he said while he backed away from her.

"Wonderful! That would give me enough reason to shoo you away from here. Now get lost!" Sakura said to him.

"Unfortunately my sick and miserable princess, I can't do that 'coz my butler has ordered me to give you these. And as always I am forced to welcome myself into your house. What a pity!" he said while he entered. Sakura didn't have enough strength in her body to retaliate.

He kept the bag on her table and turned around facing Sakura. "You will have to eat all this if you wanna get better. Alright princess!" he said to her.

"I don't wanna. I just need some…."she tried her best to keep herself steady and prevent from falling but her body gave way and her vision became darker and darker by the second. But before she fully lost her consciousness Li had caught her. He checked for her pulse and it seemed to accelerate. He touched her forehead and it seemed like her body was on fire. She had a terrific amount of fever and she was mighty weak. He carried her to her bedroom and laid her on her bed. Her breathing was laboured and she was covered in sweat. The top two buttons of her pyjamas was undone and he forced himself to look anywhere but there and suppressed a blush.

"What to do now?" he asked himself and tried calling Wei.

Wei picked up the phone and told him that the first thing to do is to get her temperature under control by keeping a towel dipped in cold water on her forehead.

He immediately searched for a thermometer and found one in one of her drawers and put it in her mouth. After a few minutes it read 102 F.

"Man! Such a high temperature! To think she was actually gonna bite my head off when she was this sick. She is one scary girl!" Syaoran said.

He brought a basin filled with cold water and dipped a clean towel in it, soaked it and placed it on her forehead to bring her temperature down. He did this repeatedly for half an hour and it seemed like her breathing became more eased now. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw Syaoran sitting beside her.

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked him in an irritated tone.

"I can't believe you still have the strength to argue with me right now! You really are something princess!" he said to her.

"I don't. Which is why I want you to leave without creating any ruckus!" she said to him.

"Just why do you hate me so much! I don't understand. I came here to look after you and all I get is a load of bullshit. No matter how nice I am to you, you always misunderstand me. What happened to the Kinomoto from last night? I want her back!" he said with a worried expression that made Sakura feel guilty for yelling at him previously.

"Ok ok! Just don't get sentimental on me. That gives me the creeps. And try keeping your voice down 'coz my head feels terrible right now!" she said to him.

"Is that your supposed truce? Well anyway, I am happy you let me take care of you and don't you worry, 'coz by the time your dad comes back you will be feeling better in no time!" he promised her.

"Ya ya, whatever! I am hungry. Bring me something to eat. Now!" she ordered him.

"Jeez! Just don't get the hang of it princess 'coz its only until you get better!" he said to her and headed downstairs.

He opened the thermos flask that contained the chicken soup, poured it in a soup bowl and climbed upstairs. When he opened the door, Sakura had her eyes closed and was leaning back on her pillow. For a moment he wondered how peaceful she seemed when she had her eyes closed like that. He noticed her flawless features one by one. Her long lashes that were curled at the ends, her auburn tresses that formed a mess over her forehead, her well defined jaw line, her sharp nose and her pink full lips that were pressed together tightly and the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest while she breathed in and out gently really had him spellbound. This girl before him never ceased to amaze him and he found his cheeks getting flushed the more he revelled at the sight of her. Snapping out of his adoration for her, he gently came and sat beside her and shook her gently, waking her up. She opened her bright green eyes and looked at him puzzled.

"Um! Well you said you were hungry. Here! Have some of Wei's special chicken soup! It will make you feel better!" he said trying hard to hide his blush.

"Oh! Thanks a lot! Wow! The aroma is simply delicious" she exclaimed while she held the bowl in her hands. She slurped on the soup and closed her eyes to relish its taste. She raised her eyebrows and said "This is simply awesome. Wei's gotta teach me how to make chicken soup like this!" she exclaimed that earned her a low chuckle from Syaoran.

She turned to him and noticed that his cheeks were flushed. She asked "What's wrong with you? Your cheeks are flushed. Don't tell me you are running a fever too!"

"What? No. I am fine!" he told her nervously. Meanwhile he didn't realise that Sakura had gotten closer to him suddenly. She placed her hand on his forehead and felt his temperature. That made Syaoran blush even harder and made it all the more difficult for him to regain his composure. Slowly he held her hand and lowered it from his forehead and said "I am alright princess. And you should be worried about your health right now. Not mine!"

"Oh! Well I am feeling much better now. T..th. thank you for taking care of me. I really appreciate it" she said to him with a heart warming smile.

And that really did it. Her smile was something that could lift away sadness and despair. He thought he couldn't break free because her smile really tugged at his heart strings. Regaining his composure, he said to her "I can't believe you are thanking me. Are you really alright? Or has this fever gotten to your head or something?"

"Huh! You are simply hopeless Li. I swallowed my pride and thanked you from my heart." She said to him.

"Jeez! Relax princess! I was just pulling your leg! And you are welcome. This is the least that I could do as your neighbour" he said to her.

"Fine whatever! And for heaven's sake stop calling me that! I do have a name" she said.

"I will! That is, if you stop calling me by my surname" he demanded.

"What should I call you then?" she asked him.

Sakura innocently asked him and failed to notice how close Syaoran got to her in an instant. Their faces were just inches apart while he opened his mouth and said "Call me Syaoran!" His cool minty breath fanned her cheeks and she widened her eyes when she realised how close she was to him.

"Um! Yya! Sure then!" she said to him and she blushed and turned away from him.

"Well you should! 'coz we are gonna be friends from now on!" he said to her.

"We are? Uh! I mean, we are." She stuttered.

"Ha ha! That's more like it. Whew! Thank goodness. You cant imagine how happy I am that we are finally friends! It was worth the wait though!" he beamed at her.

"Hm!" she smiled at him again. Syaoran heard someone knock at the front door. He headed downstairs and opened it to see that Wei had come to check up on her.

"Master Li! What took you so long? I hope you haven't done anything mischievous!" Wei said.

"Oh come on Wei! You have gotta stop this and start giving me some credit!" Syaoran complained.

Wei and Syaoran climbed upstairs. Wei enquired about Sakura's health and she said that Syaoran took care of her just fine. Wei gave her some medicines that she needed to take after lunch. He advised her to take lots of rest till her father came back. She agreed with him and waved him a goodbye.

"Bye Sakura! Take care!" Syaoran told her calling her by her first name.

Sakura was a little startled with the way her name rolled of his tongue so easily. She didn't mind all that as she had to get used to this from now on.

"Ya! Bye S..Syaoran! And I am sorry. All this time, I had misunderstood you and behaved rudely." she uttered his name for the very first time. Syaoran felt that he was literally on fire as he blushed furiously. He even wondered whether he had been infected as well but he realised that it was due to the fact that Sakura had called him by his first name.

"Um! Its alright! what matters is that we are friends now right?" he asked her.

He went downstairs and headed out closing the door from behind and wondered how this new found friendship would progress. All the while he pondered on his feelings for her. He just couldn't figure out what he was feeling for her, whether it was just friendship or something more than that!

**To all my wonderful and patient readers. Thank you so much for waiting patiently for this new chapter update. Sakura has finally acknowledged Syaoran as her friend and things are gonna be a lot more interesting from now on. So stay tuned. Read and review. And I am sorry if you find this chapter a little bland. Anyways do keep supporting me. Have a nice day!**


	8. What is this feeling?

Thanks guys..I didn't know whether you all will like the previous chapter 'coz I couldn't think of any other plot and bring out some romantic scenes in it but anyways I will keep you entertained, so all of you, rest assured 'coz this one is gonna be good as far as I know. Do drop in your comments and suggestions to improve my writing.

Normal P.O.V

It has been almost a week since that fateful day when Syaoran became Sakura's new friend. The more he thought about it the more he felt excited and happy. Syaoran had enquired about her health a couple of days back while he saw her through his window.

"Good morning Sakura. How are you feeling now?" he had asked her.

"Good morning Syaoran. Ya I am feeling much better now. Thanks for asking" Sakura replied cheerfully.

Even though it has been a while since she had started calling him by his first name, he blushed a deep red whenever he heard her calling him "Syaoran". It pleasured him very much and he wished that she would be by his side calling his name out over and over again. His name seemed beautiful every time she uttered it as if it was meant to be called that way.

As days passed, both Sakura and Syaoran became closer to each other. They exchanged contacts, did grocery shopping together and Syaoran even agreed to help her with Math one day.

It actually turned out that during a natural conversation over the phone, Sakura had complained to Syaoran that she was having trouble with Math. So Syaoran said "Look Sakura! Calm down. Not to brag, but your handsome friend here is a math genius. I will be more than happy to help you out"

"Thanks Syaoran. You are a life saver. So when will you be free to tutor me?" she asked him.

"Um! How about tomorrow? We will meet at the library exactly at 9 in the morning" he asked her.

"What? The library? But tomorrow is Sunday and the library is closed on Sundays" she exclaimed.

"Oh shit! How could I forget about that? Well then, I guess I will have to come over to your place" he said to her.

"Why can't I come over to your house? I badly wanted to learn some cooking from Wei" she asked him.

"Are you trying to get cooking lessons instead of math lessons? And besides Wei is gonna be busy from tomorrow 'coz the interior of our house is getting a fresh coat of paint." He said to her.

"Is Wei trying to paint the entire house by himself?" she asked him innocently.

Hearing this question, Syaoran practically ROFLed clutching his mobile phone tightly.

"For ..haha….someone who is so nerdy you sure are dense. Wei isn't gonna paint, he is gonna supervise the painters' work. Now do you get it?" he asked her teasingly.

"Ya ya. Whatever! Anyway you are to come here exactly at 9 in the morning as I simply will not tolerate tardiness. You got that?" she said to him.

"Ay ay, Captain Sakura!" he replied to her in a mock-pirate tone.

The very next day…

It was 8:55 a.m when Syaoran rang the doorbell. Sakura was waiting for him in the living room with all the study material sprawled over the dining table.

"Good morning my lady! I am here to take you on a wonderful adventure to the world of equations, numbers and expressions" Syaoran exclaimed.

Sakura just sweat dropped and said "Yeah right! Now come on in!"

"Oh and Syaoran, you are 5 minutes early but never mind" she said to him. She told him to draw one of the chairs and sit down as she headed into the kitchen.

"Sakura! We don't have time. Lets get this started as soon as possible" he called out.

"Oh why don't you just shut your yap and pipe down! I will be there in a sec" she voiced from inside the kitchen.

Within a couple of minutes, Sakura came out of the kitchen carrying a tray containing two glasses of orange juice and a truck load of snacks, literally! Seeing this Syaoran had his mouth opened wide and he was staring at her as she gulped down her glass of juice.

"Um! Are you gonna be feeding an army with this 'coz this is kinda over the top even for the both of us" he told her.

"Who said its for both of us? All this is for me. You don't know how famished I feel when I work on math. I need my energy to concentrate." She said to him playfully and stuck her tongue out. When Syaoran let out an exasperated sigh, she said "Oh come on! I am just kidding."

"About you being able to eat all this alone?" he asked her.

"No! That one was real! I meant that I brought these snacks for the both of us. Of course, you need your strength to pull my concentration back when I start showing signs of drifting away. I happen to have the shortest attention span when it comes to Math" she confessed cutely to him.

"Oh really! Then probably all your previous tutors weren't as handsome as me. For your information, I happen to be an excellent attention grabber. I mean, look at me! Who would wanna take their eyes off this handsome face?" he asked her gloating over his good looks.

"Syaoran, the narcissist strikes again. Lets get this show on the road, shall we? We are wasting too much time" she told him and both started solving some basic equations and formulae.

Sakura wasn't kidding when she said that she had the shortest attention span for the subject. She couldn't concentrate even for 5 minutes straight. Every now and then Syaoran had to bring her back to the subject. Surprisingly he ended up being the one who had the most of the snacks laid before him. He really needed his energy if he wanted to keep up with Sakura's attention issue. Sakura knew that if she kept this up Syaoran would end up with no hair left on his head 'coz he practically started ripping out his hair out of frustration. After half an hour, Sakura started feeling sleepy and began showing signs of drowsiness. Syaoran was busy teaching her some methods to solve simultaneous linear equations in Algebra. When he looked to see if she was listening, he found her sound asleep on the dining table resting her head on her right arm. That really did it. He furiously picked up the text book and dropped it on the table. It landed on the table with a loud thud. Sakura bolted up from her sleeping position and looked at Syaoran shocked. His face didn't seem to show much of the anger but he was clearly pissed off nevertheless.

"What do you think you are doing sleeping like this when I burn my ass off trying to tutor you?" he asked her.

She yawned and said "Um! Sorry Syaoran. I didn't mean to doze off like that! Its just that I cant seem to find any interest in this subject that would keep me awake. I am terribly sorry. I will go wash my face right now"

Syaoran was amazed how she apologised for her mistake. She really was struggling to increase her concentration level but to no avail. Within a few minutes, Sakura came back with renewed freshness.

"Alright! I am ready now. Hit me with whatever you've got. I promise I will stay awake" she said to him.

"Just a tip Sakura. Whenever you tend to drift away, just think of how many all nighters you have pulled to prepare for your entrance exams and how important your dreams of getting into Tokyo university are for you. When you do that, you will feel yourself getting motivated." He advised her.

Sakura was intently listening to his advise that came along every now and then in the middle of his tutoring sessions. He was very keen on teaching her how to solve complex equations. She began grasping whatever he taught her with ease.

"Alright try solving this then!" he said to her while he gave her an equation to solve and passed him his pencil. She gladly accepted it when accidentally their fingers brushed against each others'. She backed her hand away which made her drop the pencil. It dropped to the floor.

"I am sorry. Let me get that for you" Syaoran said and ducked his head. Meanwhile Sakura didn't listen to what Syaoran had said and ducked her head as well. When they got under the table both reached for the pencil at the same time which made their fingers clash again. Sakura reached for the pencil again and Syaoran let her take it this time. While getting up, Sakura banged her head against the table and got up gripping her aching head. Syaoran ran towards her and began rubbing the side of her head that got hurt. He didn't realise that he was clutching her cheeks while doing that.

"Um. I am fine Syaoran. You can let go of me now!" Sakura said to him as she lifted her face up to see Syaoran. Incidentally her face ended up just a few centimetres away from his as she didn't know that he was leaning onto her. Syaoran unknowingly started stroking his thumb over the smooth skin of her cheek as if he hadn't listened to what Sakura had just said. Sakura blushed a deep crimson and stuttered "You can let go of me now".

"I don't want to!" Syaoran said sub-consciously. "What?" Sakura asked with surprise.

"Um! Oh! I am sorry. Are you ok now? Does it hurt?" he snapped out and asked her.

"Ya I am fine." She said to him.

When it was almost time to wrap up the lessons for today Syaoran said to her "You know what I do when I feel sleepy in the middle of my study session?"

"What?" she asked him curiously.

"I eat chocolate. Chocolates give you the essential strength that you need to keep yourself awake. But that doesn't mean that you can binge on them and cut down the duration of your sleep 'coz sleep is important of course" he said to her.

"Oh really! The next time I will follow your advice. That gives me all the more reason to eat chocolate! Yay me!" she chirped.

"Sakura I am thirsty!" he said and demanded some water. Sakura went inside the kitchen and brought a glass full of water. While she approached him, her socks made her slip on the floor sending the glass of water in her arms flying and crashing onto the floor. Luckily before she hit the ground, Syaoran managed to catch hold of her by the waist. But the momentum made both fall to the ground with Sakura on top of him.

And it was Deja' vu all over again. It reminded them of the time when Sakura chased Syaoran around the school grounds for angering her and he surprised her and made her fall on him. Her auburn bangs framed her beautiful forehead and her eyes were etched with shock. Her lips were parted slightly and she was breathing heavily through her mouth. Syaoran still held onto her waist and moved her bangs to reveal her face and tucked them behind her ears. Slowly and unknowingly his thumbs traced the outline of her lips as he moved forwards towards her lips. When their noses were barely touching, Sakura's instincts kicked in and she pushed herself off him and got up. He pulled himself to his feet and said "Sorry about that! We sure had a whole lot of accidents today huh?"

"Ya I guess you are right about that" Sakura told him but avoided his eyes.

After a good couple of awkward minutes…

"Well I should get going. Wei would be wondering what's taking me so long!" Syaoran said to her.

"Ya. Well I will see you." Sakura said.

"Yeah! See you. Bye! And keep working on those methods which I taught you. If you have any queries, well you know how to contact me!" he said and left her house.

In the evening….

"Tomoyo, Syaoran taught me to solve those difficult equations that I told you about" Sakura chirped.

"Hm..Seems like you are quite busy with Syaoran these days" Tomoyo said to her.

"What? Of course not. I am just sharing whatever happens everyday in my life!" she told her best friend.

"And you two are already on first name basis. What's cooking there girl?" Tomoyo asked with a mischievous tone.

"Nothing is cooking here so you better control that wild running imagination of yours gossip queen! Syaoran isn't such a bad guy and we are just friends alright! So you better not have any ideas of hooking the both of us up or anything" she warned her friend.

"What? You are calling me a gossip queen? I don't even know the spelling for the word "Gossip"" Tomoyo said in a mocking tone.

"Ya ya! And I love Justin Bieber. Come on will 'ya? Everyone knows how much your eyes sparkle when it comes to gossip! And when it comes to a certain navy blue haired guy wearing glasses!" Sakura said to her while suppressing a chuckle.

"Um! Sakura, I think I am losing you. I will talk to you tomorrow. Bye! Good night!" Tomoyo exclaimed while she forced away a blush appearing on her flawless fair skin.

"Ya, bye! Good night. Dream about Eriol!" Sakura told her.

"Oh and Sakura, I almost forgot! We will be leaving to the airport sharply by 5a.m day after tomorrow. All of our air tickets are with me and don't forget your passport. Don't carry any food items 'coz they will throw them away during scrutiny. You got that?" Tomoyo asked her.

"Got'cha! See you then. Bye!" Sakura said and hung up.

"Wow! Its almost time for our tour. I am so excited. I wonder if I will get to see Donghae! Huh! Donghae!" she sighed and entered her Donghae dreamland.

Meanwhile at the Li household….

Syaoran was lying idly on his bed wondering about his supposed tutoring classes earlier with Sakura. She looked absolutely adorable all the while he was teaching her. But what he started wondering was the sudden closeness that he experienced towards her and it was the literal closeness implied here. He thought about her eyes, her lips and her nose that was nearly touching his. He opened his eyes and asked himself "Why do I feel strange when I am with her? I am in..no! That cant be! But what if it really is love? Man! I am so screwed"

His mobile phone started ringing and it was Eriol.

"Yo! Wassup dude?" he asked Syaoran.

"Nothing. What were you upto? Thought about how you're gonna propose to Tomoyo yet?" he asked Eriol.

"I have thought up some. What about you?" Eriol asked him.

"What do you mean "what about you"?" Syaoran asked him cluelessly.

"Oh come on! Don't act as if everything is hunky-dory with you and Sakura" Eriol said.

"What? You cant possibly believe that something is cooking between me and her. We are just friends and we are neighbours. Its as simple as that!" Syaoran said to him._ I really wish it was as simple as that_ he thought.

"Oh really! I bet you a thousand bucks that you were thinking about her right now before I called you!" Eriol said to him.

"You! Wait till I get my hands on you!" Syaoran threatened him. That earned him a good hearty laugh from Eriol.

"Anyway. Get your things packing 'coz we are gonna be leaving early in the morning day after tomorrow" Eriol said to him.

"Ya. I know. I will be there!" Syaoran said to him and hung up.

**Things are gonna become quite interesting now that the gang is heading towards Korea for their very first overseas tour. Do stay tuned and post reviews.**


	9. In love with Sakura Kinomoto

Syaoran's P.O.V

I woke up to the screeching cry of my alarm clock instantly. I had set the alarm at 4 a.m since Tomoyo had already told us that she would be coming over to pick both me and Sakura up from here to the airport to catch our flight at 8:15 a.m. I immediately took a quick cold shower and got dressed in a simple white T-shirt and faded blue jeans. I got down taking my luggage and I happened to see Wei already up and sitting on one of the couches.

"Good morning Wei! You are up early!" I greeted him.

"Good morning to you Master Li. Of course I had to get up early to send you off. Is everything ready for your trip?" he asked me.

"Ya I guess. I hope I have not forgotten anything! Excuse me Wei! I need to make a call to Tomoyo" I said to him and made the call.

I dialled her number and she took the call quite quickly.

"Hello Tomoyo. I wanted to know when you will be coming here" I asked her.

"Hi Syaoran. I am on my way to your place and I think I will get there in 10 minutes. You and Sakura get your luggage out so that we can load it inside the car without any delay." She instructed me.

"Alright then. See 'ya" I said and hung up and made a call to Sakura this time.

"Hi Syaoran. Are you ready yet?" she asked me with a chirpy voice.

"Ya I am. Tomoyo wanted us both to get outside and wait for her. She said that she will be here in 10." I said to her.

"Alright. I will meet you outside" she said to me and hung up.

Wei helped me with my suitcase and travel bags and got them outside. Meanwhile I could only see Sakura's silhouette approaching me in the dim street light. The sun hadn't risen yet and it was pretty much still dark. As she came near me carrying a couple of travel bags and dragging a suitcase I was able to see her face rather perfectly. She was breathtakingly beautiful. I literally forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. She was wearing a caramel coloured turtle neck top that accentuated her fair complexion and she matched it well with a pair of dark coffee brown skinny jeans. She made quite the fashion statement with this outfit. She was talking to me with so much excitement and that made her captivating green eyes sparkle wildly. The smooth skin of her cheeks was blushed with a natural and healthy pink that added charm and her ever soft and pink lips moved with every word she uttered to me. Sometimes I have even cursed myself realising the fact that we are just friends and nothing more than that. I guess I was so fascinated with her that I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying to me and so she waved her hand in front of me to snap me out of my adoration for her.

"Syaoran! Were you even listening to a single word I said?" she asked with annoyance.

"Oh! I am sorry. It must be because of waking up early in the morning. Oh look, Tomoyo arrived!" I told her when Tomoyo's car came stopping right in front of my house.

Sakura's dad had come outside to send Sakura off on her journey as well and he wished me a happy journey too.

"You two take care of yourselves and call me from time to time, alright Sakura?" he said to her. And he requested Tomoyo to take care of Sakura since this is her first overseas tour.

"Don't worry. I will take good care of her Uncle Fujitaka" she reassured him. We loaded our luggage and got inside the car. The car looked small on the outside but it was quite spacious on the inside and was driven by one of Tomoyo's women bodyguards. Incidentally Sakura and I were seated on the passenger seat and Eriol and Tomoyo were seated parallely to us. We bid our farewells to Wei and and waved to them till the car rounded off a corner and they were out of sight.

"Uncle Fujitaka? By any chance, are you both related or something?" I asked pointing to Sakura and Tomoyo.

"Haha..Yes! We are not related directly. We are sorta like distant cousins. My mom and Sakura's mom were childhood friends. Both of our families were in good rapport with each other and still are. So it pretty much makes us both related." Tomoyo explained to me.

"What about Chiharu, Yamazaki, Rika and Naoko?" Sakura asked Tomoyo.

"They said that they would meet up with us at the airport" Tomoyo replied.

"I am surprised seeing you here Eriol. I thought you said you would join us directly at the airport" Sakura asked Eriol.

"Oh well! I did say that but last night Tomoyo here called me and said that she would be picking you guys up and suggested that I would come along as well since my house was along the way. Hence change of plans" Eriol said while suppressing a visible blush.

"Look at him blushing like that! Dirty Casanova!" I muttered under my breath but it was clearly audible for Sakura who asked me "Look who's talking!"

I looked at her and she laughed a hearty laughter while looking at my bemused expression. It was nice seeing her laugh. It kinda warms my heart everytime. As we kept on talking suddenly Sakura tugged at my shirt and demanded my attention.

"Syaoran look! It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed and her excitement was that of a 5 year old. She was pointing something out the window and I looked in that direction. It was a beautiful lake and the rising sun cast its reflection upon its still waters that added to its beauty. I looked at her again and she still was engrossed in the scenery, admiring it.

"Ya, it is beautiful!" I said to her and she smiled at me, probably because I have the same opinion about it.

I turned to Tomoyo and asked her how long it would take for us to reach the airport and she said that it would take another one and a half hours. So we continued chatting with each other and pulling each other's legs when suddenly exhaustion took over me and my eyelids started drooping.

Tomoyo's P.O.V

Just look at those two love birds! They look so cute together. But I wonder why Sakura can't sense what Syaoran feels for her. She is just too dense and innocent for her own good.

I guess it's time for me to step up to the plate and get those two together but I have to do it discreetly without Sakura's knowledge or else she would never forgive me. And so I asked Eriol to be my partner in crime till my mission is accomplished successfully and he agreed to it.

"Sakura has to know what Syaoran feels for her before it's too late!" I said to Eriol.

"But before that Syaoran needs to know what he is feeling towards her. In this case, Syaoran is equally dense. This won't be easy but it can be accomplished." He said to me and placed his arm on mine reassuringly. Now this is one of those reasons why I am in love with him. He is just so reliable and dependable. My eyes locked with his and I felt myself being pulled into those blue orbs of his. He neared me inch by inch and the tension started building between us as the air got tighter and tighter. Good thing Sakura and Syaoran were asleep. As he neared my face and cupped my cheeks, the car came to a halt and my bodyguard told us that we had reached the airport already. Dang! Anyhow its almost time for me to confess my feelings to Eriol as well.

Normal P.O.V

The car came to a halt and Syaoran woke up and saw where they had reached. They had reached the airport already. As he turned his head towards Sakura's direction he saw that she was already asleep and was leaning her head on his shoulder. She looked like a cute kitten as she cuddled herself and was sleeping soundly. Before Syaoran went into "Sakura admiration" mode, he thought of waking her up.

He gently shook her as he placed his hands on her cheeks to wake her up.

"Sakura! Come on get up. We are here!" he said as she blinked a couple of times before opening her eyes fully and squeezing them.

"Oh! We are here huh? I guess I dozed off" she said as she nervously scratched her head and got out.

They unloaded their luggage from the car and Tomoyo bid her farewell to her bodyguard. The car drove off and they saw Chiharu and the others approaching them.

"Wow! You guys are here! All set?" Chiharu chirped.

"Yup! All set. Tomoyo has our tickets. What are we waiting for? Lets go" Sakura said.

After the scrutiny of their luggage and all the formalities were complete, it was finally time for them to board their flight. It was 7 a.m and they started occupying their seats one by one. Since it had couple seats, Yamazaki and Chiharu got seated together and Naoko and Rika ended up together. Tomoyo deliberately seated herself next to Eriol in an attempt to get both Syaoran and Sakura seated beside each other. But poor Sakura, as dense as she was she couldn't put a finger on what her dear best friend was scheming.

"I guess this leaves the two of us together" she said to Syaoran.

"Y..ya! I guess you are right" Syaoran said to her and occupied his seat beside Sakura's window seat. He turned around and saw that Eriol was smirking at him and giving him a thumbs up.

Syaoran silently muttered "Fuck you!" and grunted at him.

Eriol and Tomoyo exchanged evil glances at each other as the Phase-1 of their "Get Sakura and Syaoran together" plan commenced.

After a few minutes of instructions to ensure safety of the passengers, the flight was given clearance and it took off smoothly from the runway.

Inside the flight….

It was time for breakfast and the air hostesses started wheeling in trolleys of food that looked absolutely scrumptious. Everyone ordered their food and started eating. But for some strange reason, Sakura couldn't continue eating after having a couple of bites.

"What's wrong Sakura? Are you ok?" Syaoran asked her.

"Ya I am fine. I don't know why but I don't feel hungry Syaoran" she said to him.

"This is the first time you are travelling by air, isn't it?" Syaoran asked her with concern.

"Ya" she replied weakly.

"Is it…is it possible that you have air-sickness?" Syaoran asked her.

"I don't know but it feels like my tympanic membrane could burst anytime now. Its really painful!" she said.

"Don't worry. This happens due to low pressure. Here! Plug these cotton balls in your ear. You wont feel the pain and as for your air-sickness, you can use these air-sick bags in case you feel like throwing up. Alright?" he said to her.

Sakura was touched after noticing the extent to which Syaoran was worried about her and kept staring at him unknowingly. Syaoran noticed this and asked her "What? Is there something on my face?"

"No. Its just that…..I mean..thanks Syaoran!" she stuttered and blushed.

"Um…Its no big deal! What are friends for?" he said to her and turned away from her.

_Friends huh? Its becoming so hard being just friends…_he thought.

After a while Sakura fell asleep quite comfortably and Syaoran covered her with a blanket and continued staring at her.

_Just look at you! Here I am struggling to maintain composure in front of you and you are sleeping without a care of the world. I am afraid I have fallen for you Sakura. Utterly and miserably in love with you…._he thought as their destination drew closer and closer.

**That's a wrap on this chapter..sorry for the delay guys. I was going through a slump for a few days and finally got an idea on how to continue this story. I hope you like it and do look forward for the next one. I realised that I am not getting any reviews for my previous chapters so I am a bit disappointed guys. Its really ok with me if I get criticising comments for you as long as it is helpful to improve my writing. Don't be shy and post your reviews. I will be looking forward to them. Love ya'll!**


	10. Genuine feelings

Syaoran's P.O.V

Sakura was sound asleep. Thank god she didn't puke. I was impressed that despite the difficulties she coped up well to her very first flight experience. I was keeping myself entertained by listening to songs.

After a good two and a half hours the announcement went "Attention all passengers disembarking at Seoul International Airport. You are requested to fasten your seat belts to prepare for landing. We repeat, please fasten your seat belts to prepare for landing"

That was our cue. Finally we are about to reach our destination. I fastened my seat belt and I tried waking Sakura up but she didn't budge. So the least I could do was to fasten her seat belt for her. After having landed safely at the airport I woke her up.

"Sakura, we are here. Wake up" I gently whispered into her ear. She immediately woke up and straightened herself out.

"Oh my god! I slept through the whole journey. I am sorry Syaoran. I wasn't able to spend time with you. You must have gotten bored right?" she asked me innocently slanting her head slightly that made her look adorable.

I couldn't resist anymore so I pinched her cheeks and said "Apology accepted. And besides you were feeling nauseous so I didn't want to make it all worse for you. All better now?"

"Ow! What was that for? Ya I feel better now. Thanks to you!" she said smiling at me.

"Alright. We better get down. Can you take your luggage?" I asked her.

"Ya ya. I am fine with it." she said and took her luggage out of the compartment.

All eight of us got down and were walking towards the entrance of the airport when Sakura suddenly squealed with joy after having noticed a large advertisement banner that read "SUPER JUNIOR SUPER SHOW 5 AT SEOUL for 2 days (March 23rd and 24th) AT THE OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS ARENA starting today"

That's right. Ms Kinomoto here is a hard core Super Junior fan and she calls herself an E.L.F which is an abbreviation for "Ever Lasting Friends". That's the official fan club of Super Junior consisting of complete lunatic fans who scream at the top of their lungs no matter what they do on stage holding up glow sticks and craving for fan service. It is also reportedly one of the largest fandoms any KPOP idol group has.

"I can't believe I am breathing the same air as The Super Junior. I love my life!" she started jumping in excitement. I couldn't believe what I am seeing. Just a few minutes ago she looked as though her life had been sucked out of her 'coz of the air-sickness. I don't know from where she got all the energy all of a sudden.

"Sakura! Get a hold of yourself. You are attracting unwanted attention." I told her while she stopped her jumping and looked around to notice that she had the attention of almost all the people at the airport now.

"Oops! Sorry about that!" she said out of embarrassment.

"How embarrassing!" I face-palmed.

"Ha ha. I knew you would be excited to see them. That's why I have got a surprise for you" Tomoyo said to Sakura.

"What is it? Don't tell me you are gonna make me meet up with Kyuhyun!" Sakura asked Tomoyo starry-eyed.

"I thought you liked Donghae" I asked her.

"Well it's just that I have always had trouble making up my mind about both of them. So I decided I would make both of them as my biases." She chirped at me. How pathetic! The crazy things that a handsome boy group can make you say or do!

"Even better. What I have here are a total of 8 complementary tickets for the Super Show 5. You are gonna meet up with all of them this evening" she told.

"OMG! Pinch me if I am dreaming" she asked me. I just stared at her blankly.

"Go on. Pinch me" she insisted. I face-palmed again and did what she told me to do.

"Ow! That hurts! Wait, that really hurts! It means I am not dreaming! Yay!" she said and resumed her jumping session all over again. I turned towards Tomoyo and sighed.

"You just had to tell her now. Couldn't you have waited till we got out of here!" I told her.

"Well. I am sorry about that. And besides we can't get out of here till we find our personal tour guide" Tomoyo said to me.

"A personal tour guide? Where are we gonna go look for a tour guide?" Eriol asked her.

"Not to worry guys! My mom has business collaborations with various multinationals here and she had asked a guy named Kim Min Hyuk who is supposedly the heir to a multinational company in Seoul to help us with our stay here and be our guide till the end of our stay" Tomoyo said.

"And he said that he would be waiting at the entrance to receive us once we get here!" she added.

Meanwhile a tall and lanky guy approached us from a distance and Tomoyo asked him "Are you Kim Min-Hyuk?"

The guy nodded and said "Ann yeong ha se yo! Hangug e osin eul hwan yong hamnida"

We just blinked at him wondering what he had just said to us. He looked at our bemused expression and laughed. This made us wonder if he had just made fun of us in his language.

"Don't be tensed. I just said "Hello and Welcome to Korea" in Korean. It is clear that neither of you knows Korean" he said to us.

"Ya. As a matter of fact this is our first time to Korea." Tomoyo said to him.

"Don't worry. I will be your personal guide till the end of your stay here. You will absolutely love Seoul." He said cheerfully.

"Oh! We forgot to introduce ourselves. I am …."Tomoyo started introducing herself while he interrupted and said "I know. You are Tomoyo Daidouji. The one and only daughter of Sonomi Daidouji, President of Daidouji Industries. I have met your mother once in one of her overseas visits. She really has a dynamic personality. I have heard that her daughter is quite the beauty but never imagined she would be this beautiful"

"Ah! Um! T..thank you!" Tomoyo stuttered. And I could see Eriol visibly starting to turn red as his anger started to boil viciously.

Is it just me or does this guy seem like a total flirt? I wanted to confirm it with Eriol and Yamazaki.

"Hey you two! Seems like the girls are in for a full-blown flirt fest heading their way!" I said to them.

"No kidding. Even Chiharu seems like she is impressed with this guy. What's gonna happen to me?" Yamazaki fake-cried biting his nails.

"Tomoyo seems to get flustered by his compliment. We better keep a close watch on him just in case" Eriol said.

Tomoyo then proceeded towards introducing the rest of us.

"This is Chiharu Mihara, Rika Sasaki, Naoko Yanagisawa, Takashi Yamazaki, Eriol Hiragisawa, Syaoran Li and Sakura Kinomoto" she told each of our names and we greeted him. For all of us guys he shook hands while for girls it seemed like he was in a totally different dimension.

First indication of a flirt : Holding a girl's hands while speaking and staring into her eyes as if he is gonna drill a hole through her skull.

Second indication of a flirt : Patting the back of her hand and giving her a smile while talking to her that just gives us guys the creeps.

Third indication of a flirt : Bending down to her eye level and complimenting her looks in a sickly romantic tone that just makes you wanna throw up on his face.

And he just crossed the limit when he showcased all three indications onto Sakura. Oh the humanity! Why does it have to be her of all the girls here?

"Dangsin-eun jeongmal aleumdabseupnida" he said in Korean and god knows what that meant.

"Um! Excuse me." Sakura said.

"Just relax. Its not an insult. I meant that you are really beautiful!" he said to her.

At that very moment I really wished the flames of my anger would consume him and reduce him to ashes. How dare he try to seduce Sakura! I was literally folding up my sleeves to beat this guy to a pulp but Eriol suddenly grabbed my arm and made me relax.

"Woah there buddy! You are making it quite obvious that you are in love with her" Eriol said to me.

"You! Just quit eating my brains 'coz I am pissed off enough already! Sakura and I are just close friends. Nothing more and nothing less." I said to him sternly.

"Oh really! Then why are you green with envy? Stop denying Syaoran. You have fallen for her. And it's the right time for you to act." Eriol told me.

As he finished giving me this lecture I began contemplating on my feelings for her again. What Sakura really means to me and how important she is to me? Am I satisfied with just being friends? Why can't I control the frenzied beating of my heart after seeing her smile?

"Ok then. Lets head out. You guys would wanna freshen up after that tiresome journey. I will give you a ride to your hotel" Min-Hyuk offered.

"Ya sure. Lets go guys" Tomoyo said and was walking alongside him that made Eriol almost reach his breaking point.

"She only got to know him and she is already walking beside him? Whats wrong with her?" Eriol muttered under his breath.

"Seems like instead of giving me a lecture, you better buck up and sort your love life out" I said to him and he walked away from me and continued talking with Yamazaki.

"It seems like you have competition Syaoran!" Sakura said to me.

_What does she mean by "competition"? Could it be that she knows about my feelings?_ I thought to myself.

"What? W..what are you talking about?" I stuttered.

"Its just that, he proves to be better at being a casanova than you" she said to me.

"Does that mean you don't like this guy at all?" I asked her out of curiosity.

"Ha! As if I would like him. He is way too clingy to be my type" she said and I was quite happy and impressed by her response. Although I didn't make my happiness seem obvious. I wanted to make sure just in case.

I stated "He is kinda good-looking and all. Most girls would just die to be acknowledged by a sweet-talker like him"

"Most girls may be. But I don't think he can impress me. I get bored with guys like him" she said honestly.

"Oh really! Then how come you are impressed with these KPOP guys? You have hardly met with them" I asked her.

"You have got it all wrong! The feeling I have for KPOP guys is just admiration and it is quite superficial. I like admiring them for their talent from afar Syaoran. Nothing more than that. I am not like those thousands of fans who practically worship them like gods." She said to me.

"I don't wish to mix up feelings of love with those that I feel superficially. I want those feelings to bubble from the bottom of my heart when I have found my guy. But unfortunately I haven't found even a single guy who would make me feel that way yet." She added.

_What the heck? She still hasn't found her Mr Right yet? That means she still considers me as a friend. Just a friend and nothing more. Don't lose heart Syaoran. There is still chance for you. You can make her realise that you are the perfect guy that she has been looking for._ I thought.

I guess I spaced out for a while without knowing hence Sakura snapped me out.

"Hello! Earth to Syaoran! You have been spacing out a lot lately. Something wrong?" she asked me.

"Oh! Nothing. Let's get going!" I said to her as we approached the car. It was big enough to accommodate all eight of us and our luggage. For starters, this car could easily be mistaken for a limo but it was not. It had the looks of hummer but was a little lengthier.

"Oh wow! Your ride looks awesome" Yamazaki complemented.

"Thanks a lot. This is a custom made car that was designed by top engineers of the company. Its still not out into the market" Min-Hyuk stated and flaunted his priced possession.

"Min-Hyuk's family owns a well renowned automobile outlet called "Oullim Motors" in South Korea." Tomoyo stated.

After that, he gave us all a ride to our hotel. It was named "The Westin Chosun" and my god, it seemed like quite a luxurious one.

"This is where you all will be staying. This is one of the top 5 hotels in Seoul, well known for its king-sized rooms and excellent room service. While you are here please be sure to make use of the spa as it is one of the best in Seoul. It also has an Athletic club for sports fanatics. I hope you guys will make yourselves comfortable here" Min-Hyuk said and left after having helped us with our luggage.

"Wow! There is spa and a steam room attached. This is heaven guys!" Naoko exclaimed.

"Ha! Lets enjoy ourselves here as much as we can. But before that we need to be rested till this evening. Don't forget that we are going for SUPER SHOW 5" Sakura said.

"I know! I know!" I said to her.

All I know now is that we are in for one heck of a joyride that none of us here would forget for as long as we live.

**A/N: I hope you all will look forward for the next chapter and would find this one worth reading. Please read and review guys. Thanks a lot..:)**


	11. Horrific treatment

A/N: I am glad that my story is receiving so much attention from so many readers. Thank you all for your wonderful support and for sparing some time to drop in reviews. It really means a lot to me. For all my enthusiastic readers who have been dying for an update, here is chapter 11. I hope you enjoy this one as well!

The Westin Chosun was literally out of this world. It had everything from a spa and an attached steam room, an Athletic club, a huge state of the art fitness centre, innumerable restaurants, king-sized rooms, two movie theatres to the largest ever skating rink in Seoul. It was luxurious beyond imagination and Sakura and the others had only a week's time here to enjoy.

Sakura's P.O.V

Since Tomoyo's mom was sponsoring our trip, our expenses for the stay here had already been taken care off. The girls were allotted rooms on the fifth floor while the boys had been given the one on the sixth. We took the elevator and got down at the fifth floor while the boys continued towards the sixth floor. Tomoyo and I were in one room and Chiharu, Naoko and Rika took the one adjacent to ours that had two beds and was comparatively larger.

Our room had a large, colourful and beautiful tapestry hung over a wall that had images of ancient people, plain beige curtains that matched well with the wall, a king sized bed whose wooden frame was carved beautifully that reflected highly skilful workmanship and an attached bathroom that had a Jacuzzi bathtub equipped for hot and cold bath. Plus it had the most beautiful view of the entire city of Seoul.

"This is heaven Tomoyo. Heaven!" I said and plunged into the soft bed.

"I am glad you like it Sakura." Tomoyo said with a smile.

"Like it? I Love it. You are the bestest best friend ever" I said sincerely.

"Ha ha! Thank you and this is the least that I could do for you. Good thing my mom had contacts here." She said.

Dang it! Her mom! I need to call her and say thanks at least for doing so much for us!

"Tomoyo could you make a call to your mom? I need to talk to her" I asked her.

"Sure Sakura! Here!" she said and made a call to her mom and gave me the phone.

"Hello. Daidouji residence" Tomoyo's mom said.

"Um! This is Sakura. How are you Mrs. Daidouji?" I asked her.

"Oh my god! Its you Sakura. Its been a while! I am doing just fine. How are you my dear? Did you like the place where you are staying in Seoul?" Mrs. Daidouji asked a barrage of questions.

Mrs. Daidouji had always been very sweet and doesn't compromise when it comes to providing luxury and only the best things to the people who are dear to her. She has always been an inspiration for me and was known for her steely resolve and her immense determination to raise her family and the family business single handedly. After my mom's death, she was equally broken and shattered and had been a constant source of support to my family ever since. Me and my family will forever be indebted to her.

"Yes I like it very much! I called you to thank you for all this even though it's a bit extravagant." I said to her earnestly.

"Ah! This is nowhere near the extravagance that I am capable of providing you with. It was my pleasure sweet heart! Did Min-Hyuk come to receive you all?" she asked me.

"Ya he did come and even helped us settle down here. He said that he would come with us to the Super Show this evening as well and give us a tour around Seoul tomorrow." I told her.

"Wonderful! Please make sure to notify him if you need any help at all alright? I am currently going for a meeting right now so I will talk to you later. Take care of yourselves out there" she said.

"Oh please do carry on. I wouldn't want to keep you from your meeting. I will talk to you later. Have a good day Mrs. Daidouji." I said and hung up.

After that I made a brief call to my dad to tell him that I have reached here safely.

"So whats our plan for today?" I asked Tomoyo.

"Well we could go downstairs to the spa and have a steam bath to freshen ourselves up." She said to me.

"What are we waiting for then? Lets ask Rika, Naoko and Chiharu to come along as well." I said excitedly.

We got ready and hurried downstairs. The spa was in the ground floor.

"Oops, I forgot to ask Yamazaki if he would like to come." Chiharu exclaimed.

"What? You want the boys to come with us too? Yuck Chiharu!" Naoko said to her with disgust and we all laughed.

"No! You dimwit! I wanted to ask them if they wanted to come to the spa separately. Don't go making any assumptions alright!" Chiharu said.

"Ya ya. We know you well Chiharu." I said to her.

The spa had treatments for everything ranging from a full body massage to aromatherapy. They also had an entire range of aromatic oils for aromatic facials. For people who can afford luxury, they had gold and pearl facial and wine therapy where you have to immerse your body completely in a bathtub filled with wine. And then there was the Egyptian red clay facial, chocolate facial and aromatherapy using rose water for people who don't want to punch a hole in their pockets and purses.

"I will go with the Egyptian red clay facial and a full body massage" I said.

"I think I will go with a simple fruit facial and aromatherapy" Tomoyo said.

Rika, Naoko and Chiharu opted for chocolate facial. And while the therapist was applying coats of chocolate over her face Chiharu asked her "Um! Can we eat this chocolate while you apply it?"

The therapist gave her a confused expression but didn't bother giving her a reply and proceeded towards applying it on Rika and Naoko's faces. While she was doing that Chiharu sneakily scraped off an ample amount of molten chocolate from her face and dropped the mass into her mouth. She suddenly started to double over and spat the contents from her mouth onto a tissue paper and rinsed her mouth thoroughly.

"Yuck! I am never going for a chocolate facial again in my life. Just what the heck is this stuff?" Chiharu asked with disgust.

"The chocolate used here is not used for making confections. Its not sweet but its bitter and it is not at all processed. Hence it is not edible" Tomoyo said to her.

"You could have said that to me before" Chiharu told her.

"Ya right! As if you would listen. And besides its written up there in big bold letters. The least you could do is read the sign before attempting anything stupid like this. How embarrassing!" Naoko said to her while Rika was laughing like there was no tomorrow. We had so much fun inside the spa.

Syaoran's P.O.V

So far so good. We got accommodated in our room and it was quite spacious with two king sized beds. I decided to take an entire bed for myself while Eriol and Yamazaki took the other one.

Eriol hasn't quite got over the entire airport incident and was constantly bickering about it while Yamazaki was equally disturbed after noticing the sparkle in Chiharu's eyes while Min-hyuk was holding her hands. I paid little attention to them and thought of calling Sakura. I immediately pulled out my mobile and dialled her number. It continued ringing but she wasn't taking the call. I made a call again and the same thing happened again. I wonder what was up. Suddenly Eriol suggested that we head down to the spa and freshen ourselves up after the tiresome journey.

"Lets head down guys. And besides a good spa treatment is all I need to get some unpleasant things out of my system." Eriol said while he got ready in his bathrobes.

"Don't tell me you have diarrhoea now?" Yamazaki said while I face-palmed.

"He refers to Min-Hyuk in this case. Not diarrhoea you doofus!" I said to him.

"Oh! Right! So let the cleansing operation begin" Yamazaki added.

All this ruckus was really getting annoying for me but the thought about Sakura not taking my call had been disturbing me. What if she is sick? What if she still hasn't recovered fully from the air-sickness? I began to worry when Eriol asked me "Somebody's having a sullen expression today. Anything troubling you bud?"

"Well its just that I had been calling Sakura ever since we got here but she isn't taking any of my calls. I hope she is ok." I said to him.

"Ah! Love certainly is a wonderful thing isn't it?" Eriol mocked me while I glared at him.

"Hey! Take it easy. Tomoyo is with her. She will take care of Sakura if anything is wrong. I tell you what, why don't we go and pay the girls a visit after our spa session? I have been missing my honey-bun too" Eriol told me.

"Honey-bun? Man you seriously need treatment for your love sickness" I told him.

"Ha! I know and I plan to recover by professing my love to her before the end of our stay" he said to me.

"I hope you are right and I think it's the best thing for you to do." I said to him.

"Great! Lets not waste anymore time gentlemen."Yamazaki demanded and we followed his lead.

The guys' section of the spa had bamboo screens that overlapped each other to fully obstruct the view and separate the girls section. Two well built male therapists came and began applying some gooey stuff on our faces and our upper body while our lower body was draped in nothing but a towel. They said that our full body massage would follow afterwards when our facials had dried off completely. While we were all lying down on benches half-naked we heard some girls chatting and laughing on the other side. Yamazaki identified the voice of one of those girls to be Chiharu's and alerted us. I thought he was just imagining stuff when I clearly heard Sakura's voice among them and Eriol recognised Tomoyo's voice. So they all were here after all! That explains why Sakura wasn't taking any of my calls. She must have left it in her room itself. Within seconds all hell broke loose and Eriol and I couldn't do anything to salvage the situation. Without further thinking, the dimwit called Yamazaki immediately stood up on the bench on which he was lying down leaving the towel that was draping his lower body flying to the ground to take a sneak peek onto the girls side over the top of the bamboo screens just to make sure that it was Chiharu indeed. This was followed by the shrill cries of the girls. He hadn't even gotten rid of that blasted face pack for crying out loud. Eriol and I pulled him down forcefully and I gave him a whack at the back of his head.

"Are you out of your mind? This is a foreign land for Pete's sake. People wont think twice to behead or even worse, to kill us. Control yourself!" I said to him and he hung his head in shame.

"Um! Sorry guys. I wasn't thinking" Yamazaki said.

Within minutes we heard several footsteps approaching. We all thought that it would be those male therapists after hearing the commotion.

Eriol said "Lets get going guys before they break our bones" and we all came running out of the spa. So much for freshening up and relaxation. Thanks to Yamazaki, it all went down the drain and we found ourselves fleeing to save our dear lives. While we were running away I asked Eriol "Do you think they will catch onto us?"

Eriol said " I think we are safe for now. And besides we all had our faces covered by facial."

I said "But they did see our faces before right? So there is a possibility that they could be on the lookout for us"

Yamazaki said "Well then, the best thing to do is to avoid encounters with them till the end of our stay here."

I replied sarcastically "You really are something! You just had to take a peek and make matters worse for all three of us."

Eriol said "Alright! alright! Pipe down! What's done is done and the best thing is that the girls don't know that it was Yamazaki. We could survive with that."

"I sure hope so" I said to him and changed into my casuals.

After a few minutes my mobile started ringing. When I noticed the caller-ID I saw that it was Sakura calling me. I took the call.

"Hi Syaoran! Sorry I wasn't able to take your call. Me and the girls decided to go to the spa today so I left my phone on the bed" she said.

I was indeed very happy to hear her voice."Um! That's ok. When you didn't take my call I thought that you might not be feeling well and that you were still air-sick. So how was your very first experience there?" I asked her.

"Oh! You were worried about me? That's so sweet of you! But I am a hundred percent now so no need to worry. And as for my spa experience, it went from being heavenly to horrendous within the blink of an eye!" she said to me with amusement.

Even though I completely know the reason behind her horrendous experience I decided to downplay it for now and continued talking to her as if I am utterly unaware of it all. She narrated the entire story over the phone and I had to join in with her in bad-mouthing the culprit when actually the culprit was Yamazaki.

After a few minutes of talk, me and the guys got ready for breakfast and took the elevator. It stopped at the fifth floor and we noticed that the girls had gotten ready for breakfast as well. I noticed that Sakura was wearing a flowery frilled top and a brown mini-skirt to go with it. As usual, she seemed adorable. She smiled at me when she noticed me while entering the elevator. Yamazaki was being all fidgety around Chiharu till we reached the first floor. There was a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. There was an authentic French restaurant called "Le Chatelier's" and an Italian one and there was even a sushi bar but all eight of us chose to try authentic Korean cuisine and see how delicious the dishes were as I have heard that Korean food is quite famous and doesn't differ much from Japanese cuisine.

On the way to the restaurant Yamazaki asked me" Do you think Chiharu suspects me?"

"Why don't you just shut your mouth before giving us away. And for the record, I don't think Chiharu suspects you just yet" I told him.

There was an array of Korean food listed on the menu and we were having a hard time making up our minds on what to order. Hence we proceeded towards the buffet so that we could have little portions of everything. There was samgyupsal, a traditional dish that had barbequed meat, that was eaten with lettuce leaves and plain rice. Normally it was eaten by wrapping the meat and a small amount of rice with a lettuce leaf. Then there was the famous Kimchi fried rice and bibimbap. There was sea weed soup, stir fried veggies and the traditional ramen. All eight of us relished it quite a lot.

**You guys wouldn't imagine the amount of research I had done for this chapter. Whew! Anyway, chapter 11 is done and it is done to perfection to the best of my knowledge. So guys get busy reviewing this latest chapter. I hope you would have found this one as a funny roller coaster ride. Thanks a lot for your support so far and stay tuned for the next one which I will be updating shortly. Love you all!**


	12. Obstacles

Sakura's P.O.V

It was finally time to head to the Olympic stadium and boy! Was I excited? I simply cant believe that I am gonna watch my favourite Korean boy band perform right before my very eyes alongside half a million other crazy fans who will probably lose their minds just by taking a glimpse of their favourite idols. Just the thought of it itself was exhilarating. So me and Tomoyo finally got ready and headed downstairs and were waiting for the rest of the girls and the boys to join us. Meanwhile we saw Minhyuk approaching us with open arms and a smile that graced his cute puppy like face. What the heck am I saying? Did I just call Minhyuk cute? Well one simply cant deny the fact that he has got a wonderful eye smile that lights up every single tiny detail of his face and those adorable podgy cheeks that makes you wanna squeeze and squish them and his messy yet straight hair that he sports so effortlessly while his cute doe eyes hide themselves behind those thick bangs every time he flicks his hair. OMG! Why god? Why? Why did you have to create one of the most attractive races in the entire world and cram it together in one single tiny country? Cant you see that girls are gonna have a hard time making up their minds?

But you have gotta face the reality once you break yourself out of your reverie. It is quite sad to realise the fact that Minhyuk is just all looks, charms and riches. He practically ogles at every possible girl out there in the world let alone pretty ones.

"You girls look absolutely gorgeous tonight. Especially you Sakura!" he complemented while smirking at me.

There it was again. That flirty obnoxious smirk which boys like Minhyuk might never understand why it doesn't suit them. But I didn't plan to be rude to him because he was courteous enough to be our guide and bear with us till the end of our stay in Korea. And so I half heartedly smiled at him and said "Thank you"

"Well, why are you beautiful ladies standing alone? Where are the rest of your girlfriends?" he asked us.

_I should have known! He comes all the way here in search of our girl buddies! Typical player! He_ _reminds_ _me_ _of_ _Syaoran_ _from_ _way_ _back_. I thought to myself.

"They should be on their way by now!" Tomoyo said to him.

After another five minutes of waiting the girls made their way into the lobby but there was no sign of the boys making their appearance and we were running out of time.

Minhyuk said "If they keep stalling like this we may never get there in time because there is gonna be a heck of a lot of traffic near the stadium. And not to mention the fans! Should I go and check if anything is wrong up there?"

I said "Alright! That's it! I haven't come all the way to Korea to miss out on watching Super Junior perform live before my eyes."

I was going bonkers and couldn't wait any longer. The nerve of those boys! And they complain endlessly about us girls being tardy! I went straight towards the reception area and asked the receptionist to give me permission to use the public address system.

"May I ask you the reason why you want to use this Ms. Kinomoto?" the receptionist asked me.

"Oh nothing major except to knock some freaking sense of time into their obviously empty skulls!" I said to her. By the look on her face I could say that she was startled at my sudden outburst but I didn't give it much thought. Instead I held the microphone in my hand and said "If you numbskulls in room 515 don't drag your sorry skinny butts down here this instant, I will make sure you don't walk the face of the earth!"

Meanwhile in room 515 ten minutes ago…

Syaoran's P.O.V

"Guys! You ready or what?" I called out to check on Eriol and Yamazaki.

"Tsk tsk…Syaoran my boy! You don't realise how important it is for me to look my best tonight for Tomoyo. And that takes time my friend!" Eriol said.

"You took the words right out of my mouth Eriol!" Yamazaki agreed.

"I cant believe you two! You guys are worse than girls" I hissed at them both.

"You say this now Syaoran! When you fall in love with someone you would be in the same page as us" Eriol said to me.

His statement struck somewhere at the corner of my mind. Suddenly thoughts of Sakura filled up my mind. Sakura and I had started off on a very bad note. The things I had to go through to get into her good books! But now we are good friends, in fact quite close friends! But what I have been feeling for Sakura for a while is so much more different than a mere friendship. I turn into a sorry mushy mess whenever I see that beautiful smile of hers, her stunning green eyes when they light up in excitement, the beautiful blush that appears on her supple cheeks when she gets embarrassed, her auburn hair that brushes her fragile porcelain face. My big concern was her feelings towards me. Does she feel the same way for me? She had told earlier that she hasn't come across anyone worthy of being her soulmate yet. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I failed to see Eriol waving a hand in front of me.

"Earth to Syaoran! We are ready now. Lets go! The girls will probably be waiting for us downstairs." Eriol said.

"No way! For all I know, Chiharu would take ages to get ready." Yamazaki told.

"I don't know about your precious Chiharu but my angel is waiting for me downstairs. She even texted me just now. See!" Eriol said and showed the text to me.

I breathed a sigh of relief and got up to open the door. When I was about to step out, I was struck with pure horror. I traced my steps back, turned a 180 degrees and dashed inside the room and shut the door tight. Due to this I accidentally bumped into Eriol who was right behind me.

"Dude! What's wrong?" Eriol asked me with a puzzled expression.

"That macho guy from the spa! He is standing at our doorstep as we speak" I said with a hushed voice.

"What? Really?" Eriol asked for reassurance.

"Does it mean that we are gonna die? Guys I don't wanna die here. I don't wanna die in a foreign country. I have so many things to do. I gotta take Chiharu out on dates, propose to her, marry her and have two children, a girl and a boy….."Yamazaki started ranting hysterically.

"Shush! Just shut the fuck up already. You have already fucked things up for the three of us in case you haven't forgotten" I hissed at him.

"Alright! Just calm down Syaoran. We will think of something." Eriol said.

Just then we heard someone calling us out and threatening us with our lives. I listened closely and recognised the voice instantly. It was Sakura and it was evident that she was mad. And a mad Sakura is a scary Sakura. I wondered how am I gonna get myself out of this mess.

"Guys we've gotta think of something fast" Eriol exclaimed.

Just then Yamazaki ransacked his travel bag and came running towards us with three pairs of sunglasses.

"Here! What do you think? The perfect disguise, aint it?" he asked with excitement.

"Ya very original Yamazaki! Except who wears sunglasses at night?" I asked him.

"Well have you got a better idea Einstein?" he asked me back.

"Ok that's enough you two! You (Syaoran) stop arguing! You (Yamazaki) stop intimidating! For god's sake just be quiet for a good 2 seconds. Yeesh!" Eriol snapped at us and both me and Yamazaki had our mouths dangling open at his sudden outburst.

"Now make up!" Eriol ordered us with both his hands folded.

Despite the authority in his voice we both refused to obey and stared at each other with anger spewing out of our gazes.

"Guys did you even listen to what I said? I said "make up" not "make out". Now come on, we don't have much time" Eriol said.

"Alright! Sorry man! I guess I was taking this whole thing too far and serious" I said.

"Apology accepted dude! Now what do we do?" he asked me and Eriol.

"Now we do what we should have done 10 minutes ago" Eriol said and yanked us both up and made us follow him out the room.

The door opened and we found ourselves staring at the guy like a ring master at the jaws of a hungry lion in a circus. Eriol bowed in front of him and said "Annyeong-haseyo" and the guy responded. Me and Yamazaki followed him out and hurried towards the elevator.

We reached the lobby downstairs and found the girls already assembled along with Minhyuk standing there impatiently.

"We are terribly sorry girls! Something had come up and it was unavoidable. We are really sorry" Eriol said taking a glimpse of Tomoyo in the process. I on the other hand was searching for the angry young woman and finally found her approaching us from afar. And her beauty was out of this world. She was wearing a red buttoned up blouse paired with brown mini skirt that exposed her long and smooth legs. She had her auburn hair tied up in a pony tail. Her eyes were sparking up and it seemed as though she was ready to spit fire on all three of us.

"What on earth were you guys upto?" Sakura came screaming at us with folded hands from the reception area.

"Do you have any idea how late we are. I swear if you guys didn't show up, we girls would have left by…" she continued but I stopped her angry rant and said "You are mind blowingly beautiful tonight!"

Her breath hitched in her throat and she stopped what she was saying. Her beautiful cheeks blushed and she had her nose perked up in anger. After a while she mouthed a "thank you" at me and smiled that terrific smile of hers which almost blew me away.

"Alright! Now that's everyone here we should get going."Minhyuk told us. And we boys agreed with him for once and started towards the car in a hurry. As I was about to climb in, a hand came clamping my shoulder and I turned around to see who it was. It was the guy from the spa. For a moment I thought that I was a goner. But then he put his hand inside his pocket and took out a wallet and said "sillyehabnida dasi geogie dangsin ui jigab eul tteol-eo tteu" to which Minhyuk interpreted "He is saying that you dropped your wallet back there and has come to return it to you"

"Oh! Is that all? Thanks a lot" I said and took the wallet and got inside the car immediately. Silly me! And I thought that he was gonna murder me or something. It was the same car that Minhyuk drove out to pick us up from the airport. I was seated beside Eriol and opposite to Sakura. While Eriol was seated next to Tomoyo.

"Aren't you looking dashing today! Is this why you took so much time to get ready just now?" Tomoyo asked Eriol.

"Um! You could say that. Do you like it?" Eriol asked her.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't! May I ask whom are you trying to woo tonight by doing all this?" Tomoyo said with a giggle.

"You know the answer to that yourself. Why bother asking?" Eriol said to her. And the conversation just went on and on nonstop and I felt like throwing up already. Diagonally opposite was Yamazaki cuddling with Chiharu and Chiharu shooting him death glares every now and then. Naoko and Rika were merrily chatting with Sakura and occasionally with Tomoyo and Eriol as well. All the while I had my eyes glued onto the angel seated in front of me. I know that she was mad at me for nearly ruining her chance to watch the live performance but I just had to turn things around between us somehow.

"Hey! I will let you in on a secret" I whispered to her and motioned her to come closer. She shifted a little and leaned forward to listen. Just then the car came to a screeching halt which caused it to jerk uncontrollably. The result of that was Sakura getting lifted off her seat and crashing onto me. She literally came flying into my already open arms. Everyone was shocked and started questioning Minhyuk as to what caused it. Fortunately for me no one paid attention to the little episode that happened between me and Sakura. As for me, I wasn't in the mood to let her go. I took in her sweet cinnamon-ey, citrus-ey scent and my mind went ballistic. My arms snaked around her waist and were holding her securely in an embrace. She had her arms around my neck. From the looks of how she had tightly clamped onto my neck I can clearly say that she was scared to even open her eyes.

I asked her with concern without breaking contact "Hey! Sakura are you alright?"

No answer.

I repeated "Sakura are you ok?"

"Just let me hold on for a few more seconds Syaoran. please!" she whispered close to my ear. Her hot breath tickled my ear and caused all the hairs to stand on their ends. I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with this wonderful girl and I secretly wished that this moment would last forever and ever without anyone around us.

What broke me and Sakura apart was Eriol's outburst. He began lashing out at Minhyuk for his rash driving. For once I thanked Minhyuk in my mind for having created an opportunity like that however wrong it might be but the fact is that Sakura now looks so scared and I had never seen her like that. "Absolutely petrified" would be the apt word to describe how Sakura felt right now and I wondered why.

But the fact was that it hadn't been Minhyuk's fault at all. The guy in front had suddenly stopped his car without any signal or such. The guy came up to him and apologised tons of times and left.

"I am sorry for going ballistic on you like that!" Eriol apologised to him.

"You should be! I was trying to explain after all. I wouldn't drive carelessly enough to take all your lives in a flash" Minhyuk started arguing with him.

"You two! Stop this right now. we have some place that we need to go to if you haven't noticed and its already this late" Tomoyo interfered. That broke the two apart and we proceeded towards the stadium. It would be an understatement if I said that we would reach there in time for the show and by the looks of things even Minhyuk was doubtful of us getting there in time.

When we were just a few yards away we got stuck in a traffic jam of epic proportions. I haven't come across any such thing in my entire life. The car couldn't even move an inch from a certain spot. Reluctantly Minhyuk asked us all to get down while he parked the car somewhere nearby. He came back in a while and said "I don't think this traffic is gonna dissolve anytime soon and the fans are going crazy near the stadium. The security is maxed up and there is only 45 minutes left for the show to begin."

"So what do we do now?" Naoko asked him. "We cant possibly go back now that we have come this far!" Chiharu added.

"We walk! There is no other way. And besides its only a five minute walk from here" Minhyuk suggested. We all agreed and this didn't spell good news to Eriol when Tomoyo remarked "You are awesome Hyuk. Quick thinking!" and Minhyuk thanked her with a smirk.

Eriol said to me "Did you see that! I spent hours trying out ways to impress her and when things were going exactly how I wanted them to, this guy pops out of nowhere and sweeps her off her feet without even breaking a sweat. And you know what the sad part is?"

"What?" I asked him

"I cant do anything about it. You have any idea how this feels?" he said dramatically.

I paid no attention to him and started worrying about Sakura.

"Hello! A genuine concern would be appreciated. I am in serious crisis mode now." Eriol demanded my attention.

"Hey I don't want any part of this. Just leave me out of all this. And as for your love story, I am sure you can think of something brilliant to salvage it before its too late" I said and proceeded walking towards Sakura who was walking beside Tomoyo a few steps ahead of me.

"Hey! You ok now? You looked terrified back there!" I asked her.

"Oh! That! I was a little bit shaken that's all. You don't have to be concerned Syaoran" she said to me with a smile that didn't seem genuine at all.

After a while we reached the stadium and Minhyuk was negotiating with the security to let us all in. I don't know what happened after that but he signalled us all to follow him.

"Where are we going anyway?" Rika asked.

"This is the VIP passage that's for special guests. I said I had some of my friends over and they gave the go signal. Its said that Girls Generation and Shinee are also coming over tonight. You have got yourself one heck of a treat Sakura." Minhyuk said.

"GG is coming? OMG! How do I look Chiharu?" Yamazaki asked.

"Just wipe that drool away you idiot!" Chiharu ordered him and we all laughed.

A/N

**That's a wrap on this chapter. To all my dear readers who have been waiting patiently all along for an update I apologise from the bottom of my heart for a more than a month long hiatus. I just had a few things I had to take care of before I could concentrate on taking the story forward. This is quite a slow one but I am sure you will find this one interesting. Stay tuned for more…I love you**


	13. Super Show miracle

A/N

GG and Shinee weren't even present at the Super Show 5 in Seoul. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to include them both just for the fun of it. Here is chapter 13 for you guys. More fun filled adventures await our gang in Korea so stay tuned.

Syaoran's P.O.V

As soon as we had shown all of our passes to the security, we were allowed inside this huge stadium. It was ginormous and a special stage was at the centre, ready for the idols. The fans had already started thronging outside the stadium to get a glimpse of the idols prior to the commencement of the show. I had no previous experience of going to concerts whatsoever and neither was I a hardcore fan of Super Junior. I mean I did like one or two of their albums but I am nowhere even close to Sakura when it comes to K-POP.

There were seats provided for the fans to sit at various levels and for them to stand near the stage to get a closer look and at most even grab the chance of having noticed by their biases of the group. Ours was the ones at the first level so we were trying to negotiate through the crowd to get to our seats.

I grabbed onto Sakura's hand as I didn't really want us both to separate amidst this huge crowd. This earned me a sudden shocked expression from her in return. I smiled to her and said " Just stay close to me and you will be fine". She smiled back at me reassuringly. And I got lost in a world of my own again with Sakura. And thanks to this we lost track and the rest of the gang couldn't be seen as far as we could see. Oh dear god! Tomoyo was the one who knew where our seats were and she was leading the way alongside Minhyuk. Although I didn't want the panic building up inside of me to be evident on my face, I couldn't stop it from being noticed by Sakura.

"What's wrong Syaoran?" she asked me.

"Um.! Sakura I think we've lost the gang in this crowd and I don't know how to get to our seats. I am terribly sorry. I know that I have been doing nothing but screw up your mood right from the start and I promise that I will make it up….. " I continued on with my monologue and was interrupted by Sakura.

"Hey Syaoran! Calm down. Its perfectly fine. We can always stand here near the stage along with the fans." Sakura said. And it miraculously calmed me down in an instant. I don't know how in the world she has this kind of an effect on me. I asked her "Are you serious? I mean you aren't mad at me anymore?"

"Don't be silly! And besides this is a blessing in disguise kind of thing. I have always wanted to stand near the stage and watch. Isn't this exciting?" she asked me with a renewed excitement that was evident in her eyes. "If you say so." I said and then they appeared. The fans roared and the whole stadium shook with overflowing excitement. The nearby lady almost passed out as the excitement and the happiness of seeing her idols appear got the better of her. In my pocket I could feel my phone vibrating. I took it out and found out that Eriol was calling me. I couldn't take the call as it would be futile talking to him by yelling my heart out amidst this chaotic and noisy crowd. So I texted him in return about our whereabouts and that we both were doing fine. The fans held up blue coloured light sticks and waved all along when The Super Junior performed their latest title song from their sixth album. After the performance when their individual introduction was going on, I took the opportunity to watch Sakura being so engrossed. She must have noticed me watching her from the corner of her eye and suddenly her attention turned towards me.

She asked "Aren't they amazing?". I replied "Ya I think so!"

She asked "Isn't Kyuhyun looking sexy tonight?" with a giggle.

"Um! I think it would be awkward if I answer that question. Don't you think so?" I asked her in return. And she laughed her heart out at my comment and honesty. It was wonderful to see her this cheerful and to be able to see her just be her happy self. And I would do just anything to protect her smile, her innocent gaze and practically everything about her. Basically her entire being. From out of nowhere I had this sudden urge to ask her this one question that has been nagging me and so I went for it.

"Um! Sakura I wanna ask you something. Promise me that you will answer it honestly. Alright?" I asked her.

"Why all of a sudden? Um! Alright then. Ask away!" she said.

"When we were inside the car and you know…..the car jerked and well…you bumped into me….I wanna know the reason why you held on to me. I could see that you were pretty terrified and your body was constantly shaking even after that. Were you that scared? Something must have disturbed you right?" I asked her. She couldn't find words to say and that was evident in her eyes. She was contemplating whether to reply or not and she was having a hard time making up her mind about it.

"Its ok if you are not up for it. Tell me when you feel like telling. I am not gonna force you. I was just curious to know" I said.

She hesitantly replied "I will tell you that later Syaoran. Not now. I promise when we get back to the hotel I will tell you everything"

And then the show went on for about 3 more hours. But neither the fans nor the idols seemed to be losing energy. The fans relentlessly screamed their names and supported them. Sakura's dream came true in the end. She even got to shake hands with Kyuhyun and I had to snap her out before she passed out in front of me. All through the concert she held onto me, locked hands with me and was never awkward with me even for a second and I considered that a huge achievement in comparison with the disastrous track record I had with her until recently.

"I love my life. This is the best thing that could ever happen to me. And I am glad I had to share this historic moment of my life with someone close to me…Like you." She said with a heart warming smile. The "like you" part was almost a whisper and if I hadn't turned my head to face her I would have probably missed out on hearing her say this. And like a total idiot I kept staring into space while my stomach was doing flips nonstop and my mind went blank. I swear that if I had enough space around here I would probably end up doing a cartwheel or two out of happiness. My relationship status just got a "one up" from being just a friend to someone close.

Meanwhile during the ending speech….

Eriol's P.O.V

Suddenly the Shinee members came onto the stage and congratulated the Super Junior for hosting such a successful event and even bid farewell to Yesung who got himself enlisted to the military this year. It was then followed by GG and they did the same. Yamazaki had his mouth opened the entire time the GG members spoke and Chiharu threatened him that if he didn't stop this now she would strangulate him in his sleep tonight. I chuckled at the sight and began contemplating on my decision to confess my love to Tomoyo tonight. As I took a look at her, I noticed that she was having a splendid time laughing and chatting with "The Ultimate Womaniser". I pitied my own self for being so incompetent and realised that at the time of need not even my best friend is with me.

I gotta do this now. Its now or never. As I was trying to get closer to Tomoyo suddenly Yamazaki yanked my hand towards him and said "Lets just bail out of here and come back in a flash before Chiharu notices my absence. I heard GG is in backstage right now. You gotta help me get their autographs."

"And what? Let myself get strangulated in sleep along with you for helping you? Forget it dude! If you are willing to take risks, then you are on your own. And besides I have better and more important things to take care of." I said to him.

"Hey no fair! You have gotta help. You just gotta! Pretty please!" Yamazaki insisted with a pout.

"Ugh! Seriously! I've got an idea. Why don't you take our friend Minhyuk along with you. He is a well known celebrity around here." I said to him and turned around to face Minhyuk. He interrupted his chitchat with Tomoyo and faced me.

"Yamazaki here wants some autographs. You wouldn't mind helping the poor guy out, would you?" I asked him.

"Um! Sure. Lets go then" Minhyuk stated and took Yamazaki backstage. Luckily for Yamazaki, Chiharu was busy checking the idols out and chatting with her Naoko and Rika.

Tomoyo faced me with a raised eyebrow as soon as Minhyuk left the place. "W..what?" I asked her.

"You! You are quite the schemer aren't you? Mind if I ask you why you did that?" Tomoyo asked me. And man! She was gorgeous in her midnight blue top and black skin tight half pants. Her fair complexion was practically glowing in contrast to the dark coloured outfit.

"All for good reasons my dear! Minhyuk would be more than happy to be surrounded by nine other gorgeous Korean girls and Yamazaki wanted to get their autographs, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to hook them both up together for a while." I said.

"Was that all Eriol?" she questioned me. I can say that she was disturbed with the way she asked me that question. I decided to play along. I wanted to know exactly how she would react and said "Yeah. That's about it." She was terribly angered over my response and she began negotiating through the crowd to get away from here. "Oh shit! Tomoyo wait! Great! Me and my big mouth" I called out for her but she didn't listen. All the while I kept my eyes on her while she exited through the exit door for the first level. I sprinted my way towards her and yanked her hand from behind and made her face me.

"Where do you think you are going?" I asked her. No response.

After a few seconds she responded. "Minhyuk asked me out." She said to me.

"Huh? Come again." I told her.

"I said Minhyuk asked me out damn it!" she said.

I knew it! I knew this would happen sooner or later. The nerve of that guy! Nothing good ever came out from having him close to us. I balled up my fists keeping them ready enough to land one on his so called puppy dog face to punch the daylights out of him.

"You wont say anything about this?" she insisted. I remained silent avoiding her eyes and they were close to tears. It pained me to watch those tearful grief stricken eyes of hers as I was responsible for it and so I avoided them. I felt guilty for having played with her feelings.

"Fine. Be this way then. Because it doesn't matter to you at all. All you guys know is being insensitive, oblivious and to play with our feelings." She said.

"Do you know what I told him? Ha! That's right! How would you know? But I will tell you anyway just to let you know how sincere my feelings were." She added. And my eyes fell open the moment she uttered the next few words.

"I told him that I was in love with someone else and that it was you, Eriol Hiragizawa." She said to me, her tears marking a stream on her cheeks.

"But you know what, I guess I shouldn't have done this. Maybe I should have said yes to him. Atleast he knows what interests me and he was man enough to admit his feelings towards me unlike someone who always plays with others feelings." She added. Now that really did it. She was comparing me with him of all people. She attempted to go away but I forcefully pulled her towards me and she came crashing against my chest. She tried wriggling her way out but I tightened my hold around her waist and pulled her even closer. It was a good thing there was no one in the corridors at this moment.

"Let me go Eriol!" she demanded angrily.

"Don't I have the right to speak up too Tomoyo?" I asked her in a serious tone.

"I don't have to listen to you!" she hissed under her breath.

"No choice darling! I was patient enough to let you speak up your mind and listen to it. Now its time for you to stay the hell quiet and pay attention." I demanded. She was shocked at the sudden change in the tone of my voice and I felt her loosen up and relax against me.

"What do you think you were doing all this time? You think that you were being genuine with your feelings? Well I have some news for you. You weren't even the least bit interested to know how I felt when you were walking alongside him, locking your fingers with him as he led you to the seats and not once did you even turn and looked at me. And you say that I was the one playing. For god's sake just be fair to your conscience for once Tomoyo." I said to her.

I think it struck a chord somewhere in her heart as I could see that she was surprised. I didn't stop there but went ahead with what I had to say.

"Yamazaki even asked me to accompany him backstage to get the autographs from GG. As tempting as that offer may sound to people like Minhyuk, I refrained from going. Instead I thought up ways to get rid of him from your presence and that's why I hooked him and Yamazaki up. I said to him that I had something important to do." I added.

"And what is that?" she demanded. After that I didn't know what in the world came over me but the next thing I remember is locking my lips with hers in a fervent kiss. She was hesitant. She even tried pushing me away by keeping her hands over my chest but I just couldn't let this moment die out just yet. Instead I pulled her closer by the waist and secured her by placing my other hand on her neck. Then she responded. I was mentally fist pumping at this glorious moment and deepened the kiss. I started nipping at her lower lip to gain entrance and she gladly obliged. After what seemed like an eternity, we both parted for air. But I didn't let her go, instead she was still trapped within my grasp. And then I gained courage to say what I had been wanting to say to her all along.

Both our foreheads were touching and our eyes closed.

"Tomoyo Daidouji! For someone who is quite observant you sure are dumb." I said and that earned me a forceful punch on my chest.

"Ouch!Girl! You trying to kill me here! Come back here" I demanded and she came back into my embrace again.

"Anyways! I might have been a total asshole before but believe it or not, it was you who changed me entirely. Thank you for coming into my life." I said.

"Really? How can I believe you?"she asked me. "Do you wanna go for another round then? This time though I wont be able to control myself honestly" I said and that earned me another punch.

"Would you please stop doing that? I haven't even come to the best part yet" I retorted. She patiently listened to me after that.

"We have had our share of ups and downs but I cant find another perfect opportunity to say that "I Love You Tomoyo Daidouji." With all my heart, mind, body and soul. Basically my everything. And I am sorry for hurting you before. I regret for all those times when you must have felt that I was being an insensitive jerk. But after tonight I promise that I will kiss those tears away and you will never have to cry ever again, except tears of joy." I said reassuringly.

She embraced me even tighter than before and said "I love you too Eriol Hiragizawa. More than any boy I have ever met"

"Never! I mean never, try scaring me like that ever again. You hear me! And don't you think I should be hunting down a certain obnoxious wolf now?" I asked her.

"You guys are all the same. Finding new excuses to get into fistfights! He understood my situation completely Eriol. You don't need to worry about him anymore" she said to me. Suddenly I got reminded of Syaoran and Sakura who got separated from us.

"Hey Tomoyo! What do you think happened to Syaoran and Sakura?" I asked her.

"I am sure wherever they are now, they are happy with each other. They will have to come out through there anyway. Lets go there and wait for them" she said and held onto my hand. So me and Tomoyo stood near the main entrance to meet up with the rest of the gang. After ten minutes the audience started coming out from the stadium. After ten more minutes of wait, Syaoran and Sakura came out and reunited with us followed by Yamazaki and gang fifteen minutes afterwards.

Chiharu had her fingers tightly clamped onto Yamazaki's ear. So poor guy got caught after all. When he passed me by, he said "Help me!"

"Sorry buddy! You brought this upon yourself. I will pray for your well being" I said and Tomoyo laughed.

"Stop being rude to him. Poor Yamazaki!" she said.

"No! He deserves it right now. All I know is I will never be this way with you." I said. Tomoyo smiled and it warmed my heart.

Suddenly Minhyuk came up to me and extended his hand out to me and I questioningly said "Whats this for anyway?"

"Hey come on dude! You can stop being defensive around me. I don't mean to take your precious Tomoyo away from you. I came here to congratulate you." He said. And I shook my hand with him.

"I hope you and I can be friends from now on." He added.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." I said and erased the last traces of unnecessary misunderstandings I had of him.

A/N

**Please review this one guys. I never expected that this chapter would end up being EriolXTomoyo centric. I just went with the flow and this happened. So hoping EriolXTomoyo chapter in the middle would be refreshing for all you readers. Go on and review…chop chop!**


	14. Misery loves company

Tomoyo's P.O.V

I didn't even dream that the day would come when Eriol and I would become a couple officially in the most unusual and unromantic way possible. What was I thinking reducing myself to a drippy, sloppy mess and confessing my love to him when I had tons of scenarios pre-planned for the most romantic confession ever? Well there was a positive outcome out of all this drama after all. The misunderstanding between Minhyuk and Eriol cleared off. I just cant wait to tell Sakura. While Minhyuk and Eriol were clearing the air between themselves I got the chance to tell Sakura about what happened.

"You wont believe what I am about to say!" I squealed involuntarily.

"You wont know unless you try." Sakura replied in a monotone.

"Ugh! The least you could do is show some curiosity girl!" I told her.

"Um! Sorry Tomoyo. You were saying?" she asked me.

"Eriol and I are together." I said to her.

No response. Absolutely nothing was coming out from her mouth. I could say from the confused expression that she was at a loss for words. She started heaving all of a sudden and finally caught enough air to speak.

"Are you sure about what you are saying right now? You are not drunk or anything are you?" she asked me and I rolled my eyes at her.

"I am being serious here Sakura. From all the years of being my friend, cant you tell when I am being serious and when I am not?" I asked her slightly pouting and turning away from her.

"I am so glad. I cant tell you how happy I am for you!" she said and hugged me from behind.

"Hmm. So care to tell me about you and Syaoran?" I teased her.

"What? What about me and Syaoran?" she asked me with a nervous tone.

"Oh! You know! Just stuff. How come you and Syaoran were the only ones who got separated?" I asked her.

"Oh I know that mischievous look of yours Ms. Daidouji. And if you are trying to dig up scoop then I am afraid I am gonna leave you high and dry. For the record, there is nothing going on between me and Syaoran. Sorry to disappoint you" she said to me and headed straight for the parking lot and I followed suit.

After a few minutes hanging around at the stadium, we all got into the car and were on our way back to the hotel. And along the way I narrated the entire story about my confession to Sakura and the girls.

"Girl! You are quite naughty aren't you? Sneaking in a private, intimate moment with him without anyone knowing and all" Naoko exclaimed.

"Well atleast Eriol didn't sneak out to have a glimpse of those sexy Korean girls backstage. Unlike a certain someone I know!" Chiharu said. With that comment made, she turned her head towards Yamazaki who was a nervous wreck.

Eriol who was seated beside Yamazaki joined in the conversation. "Hate to say "I told you so" buddy but I told you so. I warned you tons of times but you didn't listen. You just had to sneak out!" Eriol said by putting a comforting hand around Yamazaki's shoulder.

"Come on Chiharu! How many times do I have to apologise? Cant you go easy on me just this once?" he pleaded.

"This has been a routine with you. Like all times you go ogling at girls and beg for forgiveness and like all times you expect me to forget about everything and go easy on you?" Chiharu said.

Minhyuk suddenly said "But Chiharu, it was for those autographs and that was a once in a life time opportunity that you get to see Girls Generation in flesh."

"And you don't come in between mister! I knew all along that you were a bad influence on him" Chiharu said.

"Hey no need to take your frustrations out on him when he clearly had nothing to do about it. He was just being helpful as a friend." Syaoran clarified.

Upon hearing this, Chiharu's temper kinda cooled off and by the time she realised her mistake we had reached the hotel. One by one we all got down and thanked Minhyuk for accompanying us.

"Um! Really sorry Minhyuk. I guess I was a little too frustrated. I didn't mean to yell at you like that" Chiharu apologised.

"Apology accepted. I can understand how you would have felt but I do have one thing to say to you though" he said to her.

"To me? What is it?" she asked.

"Try trusting him blindly for once. After all he is your loved one, isn't he? Show him how much you love him and how much he means to you by being affectionate instead of being possessive" he advised her.

She nodded in agreement and gave him a warm hug. "Thank you so much" Chiharu said and got inside the hotel.

"Well guys I hope you all had a fantastic time at the Super Show tonight." He said to the rest of us.

"Ya! I mean if you hadn't been there I wonder how we could have ever reached for the concert in time" Sakura said.

"Hey no biggie. What are friends for? And I guess you guys are going to Jeju islands tomorrow right?" he asked us.

"Ya. And you are coming with us aren't you?" I asked him.

"As much as I'd love to tag along, I cant because of an important meeting. I cant let it pass" he said.

"Oh too bad then. I guess we will have to make do without you." Eriol said.

"I guess so. But don't think that I am letting you guys off the hook. You and Tomoyo owe me a treat before you leave Korea, alright?" he said smiling at us.

"Ha ha! In your dreams Casanova." Eriol said and gave a friendly one arm hug to Minhyuk before he left.

After bidding farewell to Minhyuk the girls and the boys went to their respective rooms for a much needed rest.

Sakura's P.O.V

Tomoyo and I talked for hours together until we found out that it was almost 1'o clock.

"Oh my! Look at the time. We better get some rest Sakura." Tomoyo said.

"Ya I guess you are right. I'll turn the lights out" I said and turned them off.

After a while of tossing and turning I realised that even if I stood upside down I wouldn't be able to catch any sleep tonight. And so I thought of taking a leisurely walk around the gardens of the hotel. Without making any noise, I headed out of my room.

The gardens of the hotel had well manicured lawns that lay sprawled out in vast expanse. They were bounded by little shrubs that had varying coloured flowers that shone so beautifully in the moon light. In short it was the most romantic place in the hotel in my opinion. I walked towards a small pond and sat down on a bench nearby. The cool breeze brushed a few strands of hair away from my face and so I closed my eyes to savour the moment. When I opened my eyes I was startled to see Syaoran standing in front of me looking puzzled.

"S…Syaoran? Oh my! You scared me there!" I said.

"Oops! Sorry about that. Its just that I saw you heading into the gardens and thought that you might need some company! Cant sleep?" he asked me.

"Ya well I could ask you the same. Or were you stalking me again?" I teased him.

"It all depends on what you think…Princess!" he called me by that stupid nickname again after so long and smirked at me when I looked at him surprisingly.

"What? I can clearly notice a hint of happiness in your eyes when I called you that. Are you that desperate to have the old flirty Casanova-type Syaoran back?" he teased me further and I cant help suppressing the sudden blush that crept up my cheeks.

"Oh! You wish buddy! And you will be so sorry if you even try flirting with me like before." I said to him sternly.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down. I was just messing with you." He said and sat down beside me staring up at the sky.

"So. Why cant you sleep?" he asked me and looked at me worriedly.

"Oh its nothing serious. Don't worry about it!" I lied to him.

I don't know what Syaoran was thinking at that time but he suddenly moved closer to me and started staring into my eyes. His amber orbs started piercing through my emerald ones. Being hesitant as I am I turned away from him when I couldn't take his intense staring any longer.

"You know that you are a terrible liar, don't you Sakura? Your eyes are tearing up and you are telling me not to worry!" he said to me calmly.

With that the tears flowed freely down my cheeks as if the floodgates of a dam had been opened. My voice cracked and I struggled to find the words to speak. Suddenly I felt a pair of warm hands on my shoulders and I tilted my head upwards to see a very worried Syaoran telling me not to cry and asking me the reason.

"I..(sniff) I miss my mom Syaoran. I miss her so much"I told him and buried my head on his chest by clutching at the front of his shirt. He then placed his hand on my head and began stroking the strands of hair while the other hand was wrapped firmly around my shoulder.

"Shhh! Sakura. Its ok. Its perfectly fine for you to miss your mom. Please don't cry. I just cant stand seeing you cry." He said and brought his index finger to wipe the tears away. When he felt that I had calmed down he let go of me but still held my left hand within his. And before I knew it I started telling him the story of how my mom met with an accident a few days after giving birth to me that claimed her life and how my dad was completely devastated after that. He began sympathising with me by telling how his dad had heartlessly left his mom for another woman even after realising that she was pregnant with Syaoran.

"Was that the reason why you were terrified after the car jerked violently?" he asked me.

"It just made me feel how my mom would have felt at that moment. That's why I am not so comfortable during car journeys." I said.

I continued "I didn't even get to know how wonderful my mom was. Despite having no memories at all about my mom, It frustrates me so much that she had to die at a young age like that."

"Life is cruel like that at times Sakura. You will find yourself moping about it when you know clearly that it is of no use. That's where friends come in. To ease your pain, to share not only happy moments but tough and trying moments as well" he said sincerely.

"I guess both of us are like "Misery loves company" or something along that line right?" I asked him and he chuckled.

"Well ya I guess. Its kinda getting chilly and you don't have a blanket with you so we better head inside now." Syaoran said.

"Nah! I cant sleep anyway and its not that cold. Ill come inside when I feel sleepy. You go now and don't worry about me." I said to him. But it seems like he had made up his mind on not listening to me. I let out an exasperated sigh as I noticed him plop down beside me again.

"Lucky for you I have a blanket right now. That is if you don't mind sharing it with me of course!" he said hesitantly.

After contemplating on it for a few seconds I turned to look at him and said "Who said I would mind?"

I clutched onto one end of the blanket and he the other end. After a few minutes it did get cold. As I started rubbing my arms for warmth Syaoran scooted closer to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulder. I didn't know for how long I would have stayed in that position. I felt my eyelids droop out of exhaustion.

At that time I heard Syaoran ask me "Sakura, you do realise that its past 3 in the morning and that we were supposed to go to Jeju islands later today right?"

"Huh! Oh ya I know" I said drowsily and let exhaustion take over me while I revelled in the warmth of Syaoran and the blanket.

**Go on guys! What are you waiting for? Read and review already. I am sorry yet again for taking so much time to update the story. This one is not so interesting as the previous one but rest assured coz I will be updating the next chapter soon. And its gonna be a blast coz our favourite gang is going to Jeju islands.**


End file.
